Could economic sanctions finally halt Russia’s crude production growth? In June last year, I wrote a blog post for The Barrel making much of the fact that Russia is the world’s biggest oil producer and has been for quite a while. Its output has consistently ranked above that of Saudi Arabia in the past few years and production has continued to rise in recent months, averaging some 10.53 million b/d in February this year. There is no sign of output starting a material decline — like those seen in a number of the world’s more mature producing regions such as the UK, Norway and Denmark — and Russia keeps finding new ways to pump more oil whether it be through improved technology or tapping new, under-explored regions like East Siberia. So while the geology and the technology keep on bringing in the barrels, what factors are there that could […]