Russia and Saudi Arabia are hammering out the terms of a deal to jointly increase oil production—a move that could cool crude markets and extend, at least for now, a crucial role for Moscow in setting global prices. The coordination represents the first time Moscow has moved beyond a temporary deal it struck two years ago with Riyadh and OPEC, the cartel of some of the world’s biggest producers, to tighten supplies. That 2016 agreement worked. It whittled away the world’s excess supply of stored crude , helping to boost international prices as high as $80 a barrel last week, up sharply from a long trough in which crude traded as low as around $25 a barrel. Now, officials from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Saudi Arabia and Russia have all agreed that it is time to loosen the taps again. Oil prices sank sharply Friday after […]