“The Kremlin has decided to sacrifice OPEC+ to stop U.S. shale producers and punish the U.S. for messing with Nord Stream 2. Of course, to upset Saudi Arabia could be a risky thing, but this is Russia’s strategy at the moment — flexible geometry of interests.”
-Alexander Dynkin, president of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations in Moscow, a state-run think tank, comments on Russia’s decision to decline to cut oil production further. The Kremlin concluded further cuts would be, “a gift to the U.S. shale industry which had had added millions of barrels of oil to the global market while Russian companies kept wells idle. Now it was time to squeeze the Americans.” [Los Angeles Times]
