Production declines across the U.S. shale patch as companies reduce drilling and spending cannot be viewed as a voluntary U.S. cut aimed at supporting oil prices, Vladimir Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. The comments suggest that Russia may insist on a collective cut from the United States when major oil producers sit down to discuss a global production reduction later this week. “These are totally different types of cuts,” Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday, as carried by Russian news agency RIA Novosti . “You compare total reduction in demand with cuts aimed at stabilizing the global markets. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. There is a difference,” the Kremlin spokesman said. Asked whether the natural decline in U.S. oil production can be viewed as the U.S. participating in a deal to stabilize markets and prices, Peskov told reporters to wait for the upcoming talks—“let’s […]