Putin suggests Russia and US could work together to regulate oil prices

as informed in Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that Moscow and Washington could cooperate to soothe volatility in the oil market that has roiled the industry in recent years. Russia has partnered with OPEC and other producer nations since 2017 to manage nearly half of the world's oil supply. The United States, where drillers compete in a free market, is not part of the deal. Still, Putin suggested that some form of cooperation is possible during a press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in Helskinki on Monday. Led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, the two dozen producer nations last month agreed to hike output to offset falling output in Venezuela and looming U.S. sanctions on Iran, the world's fifth largest oil producer.

Risks are rising that oil prices will cause next recession

"If we do get oil prices of $100, $125 or $150, you reach a severe pain threshold, and not just for the U.S." said Bernard Baumohl, chief economist of the Economic Outlook Group in Princeton, New Jersey. "You can have a statement made that drives [oil prices] up one day and down the next, the key is to focus on fundamentals," he said. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices were around $68 on Monday, while Brent crude oil was near-$73. If oil hit $150, an economy recently growing near a 3 percent rate would see growth fall by half, and that's before higher prices sparked inflation and forced interest rates higher, Baumohl said. Oil prices also spiked right before the 1990 downturn, running from $15 in May to $40 by September as Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.

Why oil prices are suddenly tanking

as mentioned in Once red-hot, oil prices are suddenly tanking. Related: The oil market's shock absorbers are nearly goneTrump has repeatedly blasted OPEC for lofty oil prices and complained that prices are "too high." In fact, oil bulls argued that unleashing more oil now will leave Saudi Arabia with little firepower to respond to future shortages. That suggests that Saudi Arabia is taking aggressive steps to keep oil prices from getting too high. Last week, oil prices plunged after Libya's national oil company announced it had regained control of multiple ports, enabling it to resume exports.

Could oil prices spike above $150?

That's causing reserves at major producers to fall and the industry's reinvestment ratio to plunge to the lowest in a generation, paving the way for oil prices to surpass records reached last decade, according to Bernstein. RELATED: Oil prices slip, but it's likely just temporary"Investors who had egged on management teams to reign in capex and return cash will lament the underinvestment in the industry," the analysts wrote. The oversupply of crude globally in recent years has masked "chronic underinvestment," Bernstein said in the report. The producers aim now to pump more to help cool the market, but disruptions from Libya to Venezuela are keeping prices elevated. Proven reserves of the world's top oil companies have fallen by more than 30 percent on average since 2000, with only Exxon and BP showing an improvement, helped by acquisitions, Bernstein said.

Higher oil prices fuel M&A boom in energy, Energy News, ET EnergyWorld

"A commodity is a commodity," said a loan investor. Right now oil is up, so people are interested in the debt. "Generally speaking, size and scale is a credit positive," Sadeghian said. "Bulking up can move you down the efficiency curve faster. A lot of companies could potentially benefit from combining, and if the financing was neutral it could potentially be helpful from a credit standpoint."

collected by :Frank Ithan