Did Russia and Saudi Arabia collude to force the price of oil down?
Friday, June 5, 2020
By Eric Smith
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NO
In early March, Saudi Arabia announced big boosts in oil production, launching "an all-out price war" against other producers. It did so on its own, after attempts to coordinate output with Russia failed. The coronavirus pandemic, meanwhile, had begun to spread through the West, reducing oil demand significantly. Platts, a well-known industry news service, called the move "doomed to fail."
By late April, oil traders began to worry about running out of storage capacity as headline oil prices briefly dropped below zero. By early June, Saudi Arabia and Russia had come round to an agreement to cut production and help stabilize prices. Oil prices recovered to a three-month high by June 3.
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