Russian oil rigs Goldman Sachs’ commodity analysts are a merciless bunch. Just the other day they warned that if OPEC fails to agree on a freeze, crude oil prices will dive back to US$40 , adding that even if the agreement was reached, non-OPEC producers would continually ramp up their production, rendering any deal ineffective. Now, the same analysts have released a report saying that Russia’s oil output will hit 11.7 million bpd in 2017, an upward revision of a previous estimate that claimed average daily output would be nearer to 11.4 million barrels . The earlier estimate envisaged the 11.7 million bpd mark wouldn’t be reached until 2018, but Russia appears to be ramping up production faster than most observers seem to have expected. It’s a bit strange that the investment bank’s analysts were this surprised, given that earlier this year, Goldman Sachs said Russia’s oil companies can […]