It’s not a secret that Russia and Saudi Arabia have the opposite standpoints on most of the issues on the geopolitical agenda, including the war in Syria and relations with Iran and the United States. The only thing they actually share is the necessity to back higher oil prices as soon as possible, Masterforex-V Academy experts say. Well, there is nothing to be surprised about when it comes to oil prices since both are the world’s major oil producers and exporters.
A couple of days ago, Russia and Saudi Arabia got united and announced that they were determined to extend the so-called Vienna Accord for 9 months more. This statement alone made oil prices gain 5% on Thursday.
While commenting on the energy union between Russia and Saudi Arabia, former Russian Minister of Energy Igor Ysufov underlines that both countries are heavily dependent on oil exports. When he used to be the minister (2001-2004), Russia and Saudi Arabia cooperated in the field of energy politics as well.
Today’s cooperation is dictated by an urgent need for stabilizing oil prices at higher levels to make more money for their oil exports in the future. It’s not a secret that both Russian and Saudi Arabian economies are financed mostly by the funds coming from their oil exports. This means that the higher the prices, the more money they actually make. At the same time, when manipulating oil prices, Russia and Saudi Arabia are also trying to change the balance of powers in the global energy market, especially when the OPEC is gradually losing their influence.
More and more experts assume that the economic and financial future of Russia and Saudi Arabia depends mostly on how efficient the extended Vienna Accord will be over the next months all the way up to March 2018, if the agreement is actually extended during the forthcoming OPEC summit in Vienna.
When it comes to the Saudis, the stakes are especially high since the USA has been loyal to Saudi Arabia and buying Saudi-Arabian oil for decades but at this time, the USA has been gradually turning into a major oil exporter themselves. Therefore, the Saudis apparently don’t mind ousting American shale oil producers and increasing their share in the global market while also seeing higher oil prices for bigger profits.
As for Russia, President Putin has also been trying to revive the Russian economy which has been facing more and more challenges after a 2-year-long recession. This is especially important since Russia will hold the next presidential election in 2018.
The bottom line is that both Russia and Saudi Arabia are now trying to make a second attempt to make oil prices raise since the first attempt now seems to have failed because the prices have never gone over $60/b ever since the Vienna Accord was signed ant took effect in January 2017. Now they hope that the second attempt will be successful.
