On March 1, President Vladimir Putin gathered the CEOs of Russia’s oil majors in the Kremlin to discuss a possible freeze of crude production to boost oil prices. Oil is Russia’s main export commodity and the main source of state revenue. Putin commended the “healthy state of the oil industry”—in 2015, Russia increased oil production by 1.4 percent to some 10.9 million barrels a day, pumping oil approximately on par with Saudi Arabia. Almost half of Russia’s produced oil is exported, with exports increasing in 2015 by some 9 percent. But the price of Russia’s “Urals” standard export crude has …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation
