Shortly after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) announced its latest plan to hike its oil output target by 500,000 barrels a day (b/d), oil prices rallied to an all-time record high on both the New York Mercantile Exchange and the International Petroleum Exchange. Hardly what the producers’ group had been aiming for.

Throughout its March meeting in Iran, Opec stressed it did not want prices to go any higher than the current level of around $50 a barrel (/bbl). Prices