Oil traders aren’t too impressed with Saudi Arabia and Russia’s accord to cap oil production at near-record levels . After rising above $31.50 per barrel when news of this agreement was reached, front-month West Texas Intermediate futures contracts have since retreated to below $30 per barrel. It’s not just the production freeze, rather than an outright cut, that helps explain the minimal impact this announcement has had on prices, or the conditions attached to it. What also doesn’t help buoy prices is the fact that for the two largest oil-producing nations, there’s been a de facto ceiling at these levels for an extended period of time. Over the past four years, there has been very little change in Russian or Saudi crude output—especially compared to other major oil-producing nations: Bloomberg During this span, Libyan and Iranian oil production have plunged, North American output skyrocketed thanks to the shale revolution, […]