Russia continues to be the key partner of OPEC and its largest producer Saudi Arabia in managing the oil market. For a second production cut deal in a row, Moscow joined the cartel’s cuts, taking the lion’s share of the cuts intended for the non-OPEC members of the pact. For a second production cut in row, Russia will be gradually reducing output and could reach its share of cuts by the end of the first quarter, its Energy Minister Alexander Novak said this week. Russia’s oil production will be cut from the October baseline, which was a new post-Soviet record high of 11.41 million bpd. Between May and October this year, Russia had reversed its entire 300,000-bpd cut that was pledged as part of the initial deal and added even more on top of that, as Moscow, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait pumped more oil to offset what […]