Russia: There is no oil price war with Saudi Arabia

RT
Thu, 12 Mar 2020 11:26 UTC

© AP/John Moore

No talks have been planned with Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries in the region regarding falling crude prices, according to the Kremlin. However, negotiations will be held immediately if necessary, it added. Talking to reporters on Thursday, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said:

"So far no contacts have been planned. At the same time, if necessary, they will be implemented immediately. Moreover, we have very close and constructive relations with these countries."

Last week, the OPEC+ nations failed to agree on production cuts. Following the disagreement, Saudi Arabia threatened to flood the market with oil. The announcement has caused the worst crude price decline in almost 30 years. When asked about the reported oil price war, Peskov told reporters:

"I want to remind you that Riyadh has denied reports of any kind of a price war, especially against Russia. We are dealing with a number of factors that led to a significant reduction in the price for oil and energy products. We are all in the same boat together in this situation."

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said this week it will take the oil market several months to recover from the current turbulence. He added that plummeting oil prices were not a surprise for Russia, and that Moscow isn't ruling out further cooperation with OPEC and allied oil producers.

Comment: Revenge against US shale oil? See what Boom Bust has to say:

"Fracking is very expensive... but everything was premised on the notion that the price of oil would stay very high. The Saudis and the Russians were hurt by the emergence of the American fracking industry; they've hated that industry from day one because it's a competitor."

The notion that they are fighting each other is an illusion, Wolff says. "And now finally the Russians together with the Saudis are fighting the United States because by bringing the price of oil down, all of those US fracking oil companies go belly up. They are done."

He adds that the fracking companies "can't repay their debts and that plunges the credit market and the banks into a whole new crisis which we are just beginning to learn to understand and which threatens the whole system.

"You put coronavirus together with the oil and you have a one-two punch that is making most of Wall Street realize that the glowing description of the American economy as the greatest in the world was the self-delusion of politicians and has no basis..."

See also: Technological indications the US fracking industry is about to go bust