Interfax is reporting Thursday that the United States is urging Russia to raise oil output in order to lower global prices, following the Biden administration’s Tuesday announcement it plans release 50 million barrels of crude from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, amid predictions of $100 oil.
“The US has been putting pressure on OPEC and its partners in recent weeks to raise oil output, overtures which have been rebuffed,” Bloomberg reports based on statements from the Russian Foreign Ministry indicating the ongoing US attempt to persuade Moscow.
“OPEC meets next week, and officials will be mulling whether to continue easing its output curbs by 400k BPD per month, or perhaps pause given nations of consumers will be releasing a total of 70-80mln barrels ahead,” the report notes.
Perhaps the Kremlin would be more willing to play nice at a moment Washington comes calling, hat in hand, if it weren’t subject of US sanctions against Russian officials and constant allegations of political ‘interference’ in the West, with Putin widely cast in American media as this decade’s big bad geopolitical bogeyman.
At the end of October Russian President Vladimir Putin hinted that the OPEC+ cartel might put out more barrels than was previously announced, but also noted “Not all countries are able to significantly raise oil production.”
Russia Foreign Ministry says US is trying to persuade Russia to lift oil output, Interfax reports pic.twitter.com/xiXJrjHLYT
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“Currently, the OPEC+ countries are increasing production volumes, even slightly more than they agreed to do, but not everyone can do it. Not all oil-producing countries are able to quickly increase oil production. This is a long-term process, a long cycle,” Putin said at the time in front of the Valdai discussion forum.
He then took his familiar swipe at the European and Western hysteria and obsession with “going green”…
“Political cycles in leading economies do not coincide with investment cycles, in particular in such an important industry as energy. What is the political cycle? [It is] four to five years. What are the leading political forces, parties and individual politicians doing at this time? They promise everything and as much as possible and at a cheaper price. In particular, this is related to green energy, Putin said.
https://twitter.com/27khv/status/1448329630776233987?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“And what is the result? Banks stop lending, investments shrink. The moment will come when – similar to the current situation – the market demands [fuel], and [there] is simply nowhere to get from,” he added.