Russia May Join OPEC

This would be a development of very dangerous proportions. Meanwhile, Obama ponders the establishment of a musiciancorps and refuses to push for offshore drilling. Do you feel safe?

President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia may join the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and reduce production to support the oil price.

“We have to defend ourselves,” Medvedev said in the Ural Mountains city of Kurgan today. “This is our revenue base, both from oil and from gas,” he said. “I believe that we mustn’t rule out any options.”

Defensive measures may include “cutting the volume of oil production and participating in existing organizations of suppliers, and in new organizations, if we can reach such an agreement,” Medvedev said in comments broadcast on state television.

A cut in global production of 2.5 million barrels a day would support oil prices in a range of $60 to $80 a barrel, said Fedun, who has advocated Russian cooperation with OPEC.

More on this development from the Tehran Times.