the market is buzzing with talk that
okay
Russia could strike a deal to pull
barrels from a heavily oversupplied oil
market comments this week from Russia's
Energy Minister that he's ready to meet
with OPEC countries to discuss a
production cut has triggered a large
move in all prices which have now risen
more than twenty percent since last
Wednesday
well opec's kingpin and de facto leader
Saudi Arabia has a very clear stance on
this it will cut production but only if
it is joined by other members of the
cartel and other big producers such as
Russia
well the most important figure in the
country's oil industry is Igor Sechin
the chief executive of rosneft and a
close confidant of President Putin in
the past he shot down speculation of
coordinated cuts time and again first he
says Russian energy companies have to
answer to shareholders and cannot simply
cut production just because they're
ordered to by the Kremlin second he says
the harsh winters in Russia make it very
difficult to shut in production now it's
worth noting that mr. sechin was absent
from all of this week's meetings between
big Russian energy companies in the
government
now it could be that this week's
statements and the talks between the
Russian oil companies and the government
are nothing more than an attempt to
jawbone the market and prevent another
collapse in all prices at a time when
Iran is posed to come back from
sanctions and put more oil into the
market and there are many refineries
closed for maintenance period
the pain inflicted by lower prices
they've now fallen more than seventy
percent since the middle of 2014 is
extreme in Russia the ruble has slumped
to a record low and the government is
scrambling to plug a huge hole in its
budget deficit even Saudi Arabia is
suffering its currency is under pressure
and it too has a budget deficit that's
blown out to a record hundred billion so
perhaps the pain of lower oil prices
will be enough to focus minds and get a
deal over the table