Could cracks be forming in the bromance between Saudi Arabia and Russia over oil production quotas? According to one analyst, the answer could be – yes. The background for one of the biggest structural changes in global markets in recent history dates back only a few years when OPEC defacto leader Saudi Arabia mismanaged its decades-old role as global oil markets swing producer and actually ramped up production in late 2014 in response to a then saturated oil market. The Saudi thinking at the time was straight forward. Since US shale oil producers had caused the supply overhang and since shale oil producers at the time had a relatively high oil production break-even point, the Saudis would simply turn on the oil production spigots to flood markets even more, driving prices down to points below shale producers’ break-even points, thus driving them out of business. Though the Saudis have […]