Will Saudi Arabia and Russia stick to their oil production cuts?
The price of crude oil that went up by nearly 10% in the last few days, remained just above $90 as the markets closed for the weekend. As the analysts blamed the rise in price of crude oil on the production cuts - announced and then extended until the end of this year - by Saudi Arabia and Russia, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Saudi energy minister, justified the move this week. "It is not about jacking up the prices," said Prince Abdulaziz, while adding, "it's about making right decisions that are right when we have the data." The Saudi oil minister did not agree with the perceived notion that the Saudi move is all about earning petrodollars to fund the ambitious domestic projects at the expense of the global economy. Prince AbdulaziZ, during his interview this week, meanwhile, singled out the IEA, International Energy Agency, for criticism that bordered on subtle mockery: "The agency has moved from being a forecaster to on practising political advoc