opec , page-4

This is absolutely absurd.

Lets break this down into steps of how this would occur:

They cut supply, raising price, This leads to two things:

1. They are selling less, albeit at a higher price
2. They make other ventures more viable, like canadian oil sands

So, they sell less, at a higher price, to balance their budget?

In the realm of common sense and cause&effect can anyone see the flaw in this logic?

The only reason price fixing would be beneficial if they themselves had nearing no margin on barrels sold, which is not the case...