What's up with Saudi and oil?

[Vortex2]

What's up with Saudi and oll?

[PS_RalphW]

At a guess I would say that SA was past peak production and is dressing up unavoidable decline as a pact with Putin to keep the oil price high to maintain profits in both nations. Russian oil is being exported at near record levels in spite of Western sanctions, but they are getting lower prices than the headline Brent Crude price because the oil has to be shipped long distance to its eastern and southern markets. The surge in oil prices at the start of the war has gone into steady decline from a peak of 125 to a low of 85 before this announcement. The big cash gains Putin was getting from the high oil price have largely evaporated, and the mobilisation of the workforce has further hit his economy, not least because so many of his most educated and wealthy tax payers have suddenly decided to take indefinite overseas vacations.

SA is playing both sides with a view to maximising their own wealth, as usual