Posted on 01/27/2016 7:47:46 AM PST by Trumpinator
Tue Jan 26, 2016 12:30pm EST
Iraq says Saudi, Russia change tone on possible oil deal
KUWAIT | By Rania El Gamal
OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and top non-OPEC producer Russia are showing signs of flexibility about agreeing to tackle an oil glut that has pushed prices to 12-year lows, the oil minister of Iraq said on Tuesday.
"We have seen some flexibility from the brothers in Saudi and a change in tone from Russia," Adel Abdel Mahdi, whose country is the second-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said.
His comments, made in Kuwait, boosted Brent crude by 3 percent to above $31 a barrel, although such an idea has been repeatedly mooted and dismissed for more than a year.
"This should be finalised and we should hear some solid suggestions coming from all parts, from OPEC and non-OPEC, at least from OPEC," the minister said.
A day earlier, senior officials from OPEC and Russia stepped up vague talk of possible joint action to fix the supply glut.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Russia is also at record production.
But no country affected oil production and consequently prices as much as the US.
In the past 5 years:
US production grew by 75% (4.1 mmbpd)
Russia Production grew by 13% (1.2 mmbpd)
Saudi Arabia Production grew by 5% (0.5 mmbpd)
In the past 3 years:
US production grew by 51% (3.2 mmbpd)
Russia Production grew by 2% (0.2 mmbpd)
Saudi Arabia Production grew by 3% (0.3 mmbpd)
Yet there’s little sign the countries themselves are ready to reach an agreement despite the economic damage wrought by the lowest prices since 2003. Long-standing obstacles remain — Saudi Arabia’s desire to defend market share, Russia’s inability to cut production in winter months — and analysts say talk of a deal probably reflects the hope of producers in pain rather than the expectation of concrete action.
The two countries’ opposing views on Syria, where Russia is President Bashar Al-Assad’s closest ally and Saudi Arabia wants him gone, present another significant diplomatic obstacle.
“It will not happen — everybody is winking, hinting,” said Kamel al-Harami, an independent oil analyst and former executive of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp. “The Saudis won’t do it without the Russians. Unless Russia accepts to cut, I don’t see it happening.”
The signs from Saudi Arabia and Russia, which together with the U.S. are the only countries pumping more than 10 million barrels a day, are that a deal isn’t under consideration.
Unless the ChiComs start driving again it won’t happen anyway.
China’s oil consumption is still growing, just growing slower. World oil consumption is still growing as well. But Oil Production grew faster.
Russia's federal budget is reliant on commodities revenues - according to official data, commodities contribute around 60 percent of the federal budget; in reality, that number is closer to 75--80 percent as much of the service sector depends on money from oil and gas. _Russia's Oil Luck or Curse
So, Putin claims a 50% dependency. Official data puts the number closer to 60%. And "in reality," the number may be as high as 80%. Or perhaps even more.
Well as USA Today proudly mentioned,
Republicans talked about “drill baby drill” but it was Obama that made it happen.
And probably 47% of voters believe that.
But Russia has alternative sources of revenue they can always fall back on until oil and gas rise up again. Gold, platinum, silver, diamonds and jems (natural and man made), rare earth metals, wheat export, timber, military hardware, space stuff, furs, etc.
So they have resources to fall back on to fund the state when oil and gas decline in price. It is more complicated that way but it is doable.
While most of the cars manufactured in China are sold within China, exports reached 814,300 units in 2011.[4]...In 2010, both sales and production topped 18 million units, with 13.76 million passenger cars delivered, in each case the largest by any nation in history.[8] In 2014, total vehicles production in China reached 23.720 million, accounting for 26% of global automotive production.[9]
In 2009, India emerged as Asia's fourth largest exporter of passenger cars, behind Japan, South Korea, and Thailand,[3] overtaking Thailand to become third in 2010...More than 3.7 million automotive vehicles were produced in India in 2010 (an increase of 33.9%), making India the second fastest growing automobile market in the world (after China).[4][5] India's passenger car and commercial vehicle manufacturing industry recently overtook Brazil to become the sixth largest in the world, with an annual production of more than 3.9 million units in 2011.[6][7]
That is not saying much about Russia's history of freedom but under Putin Russians are freer and have more income than the Russians had under every Czar ever and every Commie leader ever. Even with the economic down turn and squeezing of democracy Putin has done Russians are still freer and wealthier than under the Czars (When there was serfdom and when liberated from serfdom) and certainly freer and more wealthy than under the USSR's rule.
If you see it from that perspective Putin is the #1 president for Russians.
PS: I may argue the Russians were freer under Yeltsin but they were also poorer than they were before the USSR collapsed so at best Putin as a leader is #2 in the freer rank and #1 in the wealthier rank for all Russian rulers.
The current movement will be much more powerful in time, by the way, but time is on our side.
One small effort of many around the world.
Marcin Jakubowski - The Open Source Economy | @marioninstitute
https://youtu.be/MIIzogiUHFY?t=35s
Some of the quicker efforts are administered by groups of non-engineer technicians (known in employer circles now as “unskilled labor” in the “service economy”).
I give credit for that to many of the common people of Russia, Czech and Poland during the late 1970s and 1980s. Nonpolitical politics! And for those who see, there's a similar worldwide movement in an early stage now.
---------
Whatever the reasons - people power, etc, this period of prosperity and personal freedom for Russia is unprecedented (in a good way) under Putin. No Russian was ever this free nor so many lived so well under any Czar nor under any Soviet. Think on that. This tells you something of Russia's history that under Putin they are finally this level of wealth and freedom for the average Russian but that is the reality of it.
You made some good points on public perceptions. Thanks.
Of course - as I stated before - per western standards the Russians are not as ‘free or wealthy’ but per Russian historical standards this is a golden age for them on the freedom and the wealth aspects.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.