... one could plausibly argue that one of the reasons the Saudis moved to artificially suppress prices last year was to sqeeze Putin and ultimately force The Kremlin to give up its support for Assad. As The New York Times put it, a dramatic decline in crude prices has certain "ancillary diplomatic benefits."
Unfortunately for Riyadh, the strategy hasn't worked. In fact, it's backfired in more ways than one.
First, Saudi Arabia is facing a fiscal crisis as Riyadh's budget deficit balloons to 20% of GDP, forcing the kingdom to tap the debt market in order to offset the SAMA burn.
Second, Putin not only refused to give up his support for the government in Damascus, he actually doubled down by sending the Russian air force to Latakia. Meanwhile, Russia continued to pump even more oil, and as Bloomberg reports, Moscow is now producing at "the fastest pace since the collapse of the Soviet Union."
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“I will tell you when Russian companies are for sure going to decrease production -- when oil costs $0."
Russian Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov
You can read the rest @
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-21/i-know-no-one-who-predicted-russian-oil-production-hits-record-saudi-gambit-fails
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