Russia has pledged to OPEC and other Non-OPEC countries to cut its oil output by 300,000 bpd in the first six months of 2017 in a joint effort to reduce the global oil glut by almost 1.8 million barrels a day. However contradictory and ambiguous statements made recently by the Russian Ministry of Energy and Russian oil companies raise some doubts as to whether the Russians are really able to carve out a joint course of action. According to the announcement made by Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak last week, the production cut will be implemented gradually, and the cutting ratios will be apportioned to oil companies in line with their production volumes. The senior executives of a few of the Russian leading oil-producing companies appeared to share a belief in making deals with each other as an essential tool to implementing the strategy . According to Ravil Maganov, […]