OPEC and Russia are coordinating the first joint OPEC/non-OPEC deal to curb oil output since 2001, but the apparent unity in the face of lower-for-longer oil prices doesn’t disguise the fact that the cartel and Russia have separate agendas for production, expansion, and global market shares. Earlier this week, in its latest Monthly Oil Market Report, OPEC revised down its forecast for Russia’s oil supply growth by 70,000 bpd for 2018. This means an anticipated net increase of 60,000 bpd for Russia’s oil output in 2018. OPEC didn’t change its forecast for Russia’s quarterly oil supply at 10.98 million bpd for 3Q17, 4Q17 and 1Q18, assuming production of 300,000 bpd below October levels. This leads to expectations of 30,000 bpd growth this year, when OPEC projects average Russian production at 11.12 million bpd. The expected growth figures are a tiny fraction of the production of the world’s biggest oil […]