All eyes are on Vienna this week as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meets Friday to discuss whether members will hold oil production steady, continuing a policy put in place at last year's meeting that accelerated the worst crude price collapse since the financial crisis.
Since then, oil futures have plummeted about 40 percent to the low to mid-$40s. Early projections saw international benchmark Brent crude rebounding by the end of 2015. But just this month the International Energy Agency said it does not expect prices to stabilize at $80 per barrel until 2020.
OPEC's current output policy — largely orchestrated by top oil exporter Saudi Arabia — reverses its longstanding role as the market's "swing producer." Instead of reducing supply in a bid to prop up prices, OPEC members have flooded the market and sought to defend their share.