“Russia’s
national currency, the ruble, has hit a historic low following a
decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) to maintain its current oil output level of 30 million barrels
per day.”
“OPEC
'decided to maintain the production level of 30 million barrels per
day,' which it has kept for three years, during its latest meeting,
the oil exporter group said in a communiqué after the 166th
ministerial meeting of the 12-nation organization. The
announcement sent global oil prices dropping to fresh four-year lows.
Crude prices have fallen by 35 percent since June.”
“OPEC
was under pressure from some of its members, notably Venezuela and
Ecuador, to cut output to reduce supplies and push prices back
up. However, the call was rejected by some Persian Gulf members.”
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After the official visit of the
US President Barack Obama to Riyadh, there were rumors that the
two countries were planning to 'drown' global market in oil, in
order to reduce prices up to 12 dollars per barrel and hit Russia
economically. The plan was mentioned even by George Soros, during
a speech in Berlin, while Philip Verleger, former consultant under
Ford and Carter administrations, estimated that in case that the
United States alone would add in the market 500,000 barrels from
their strategic deposits, the economic cost for Moscow would reach
40 billion dollars, or, 2% of the Russian economy. The economy of
Iran would had receive a proportional hit. The target of such an
operation, at least according to the related scenario, would be to
strike the two key pylons supporting the Syrian regime, that is
Moscow and Tehran, and open the road for Assad's overthrow.
Despite the fact that Iran, under the leadership of Rouhani who is
friendly to the West, didn't support Syria as someone should
expect, and Russia didn't rise tension for the same matter, the
two countries remained the basic barriers for Saudi Arabia.
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