CARACAS: The leaders of Russia and Venezuela, two of the countries hardest hit by plunging oil prices, will meet in China to discuss “possible mutual steps” to stabilize prices. Sources didn’t provide details on what potential steps could be taken by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro, but said they could be “within the context of Russia’s cooperation with OPEC.”
Venezuela has been urging fellow members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to hold an emergency meeting in coordination with Russia to work out a price strategy. OPEC isn’t scheduled to meet until Dec. 4 and has refused previous calls for an emergency meeting, although an OPEC report sparked speculation that the cartel may be considering cutting production, which in turn boosted prices. OPEC officials say privately that having an emergency meeting is pointless if outside producers such as Russia don’t reduce production. Russia has refused to cut output to prop up prices and has cushioned the effect of lower prices by allowing the ruble to weaken.
That helped Russian state natural-gas company Gazprom, which said profit for the second quarter was up 29% from the same period last year as the ruble made up for lower sales volumes, Mr. Marson reports.
Meanwhile, a Russian nuclear-energy official pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering for arranging more than $2 million in bribes to help U.S. companies do business with the Russian state-owned nuclear-energy corporation.
The oil sands-related cutbacks announced by Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. and Nexen Energy ULC, the Canadian unit of Chinese state-controlled energy company Cnooc Ltd., in Alberta could affect oil exports to the U.S. in the long run and have already raised prices in the short term, Chester Dawson reports.
“It all comes down to how long these facilities are down and out,” said Kevin Birn, a director in charge of oil-sands analysis at consultancy IHS Energy.
The government of Alberta said its deficit will hit record levels because of the low crude prices and economic slowdown, estimating the budgetary shortfall would range from 5.9 billion Canadian dollars ($4.5 billion) to C$6.5 billion.
Oil prices got a boost after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported U.S. oil production this year has been lower than previously estimated. But the still-low prices are pressuring U.S. banks to classify oil and gas loans as troubled assets, the Financial Times reports.
Crude-oil futures pulled back on Tuesday, giving up some of the strong gains seen in the last three sessions, as worries about China’s economy resurfaced.
Vietnam bumps Thailand down to third place in survey of interest among Japanese businesses
HANOI: Interest in Vietnam among Japanese companies continues to grow, boosting the Southeast Asian country to the second spot, right...
