Why Russia Finally Accepted Deeper Oil Output Cuts

When Russia refused two months ago to join the deeper OPEC oil cuts, it was because Moscow found them unnecessary. Two months later, Russia agreed to cut quite a bit more than it was asked to at the ill-fated March meeting.  It is now doing its best to achieve its promised cuts. Why? Because it has the motivation that it lacked two months ago. Nobody, including the Kremlin and Rosneft’s Igor Sechin—called by some the architect of the price war that led to the initial oil prices slump—could have anticipated the effect that…