Russian Federation overtakes Saudi Arabia in Sept China crude supply -customs data

Prices have slipped into the USD45 range over the past week amid concerns about global demand.

On October. 13, the head of the Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft, Igor Sechin, said that Saudi Arabia had started selling its oil in Poland - at prices that were below the market. "The point being that Middle Eastern oil sent to Europe doesn't have any logistical advantage when compared with supplies to the Asia-Pacific Region".

OPEC's plan to keep oil prices low and price out US shale oil production is completely backfiring as member states of the global oil cartel are undercutting each other to increase their market shares.

Russia's share in the European oil market is under threat as European refineries boost purchases of crude from Saudi Arabia, reports Russian online publication Gazeta.ru, citing a source in the petroleum industry. Saudi Arabia's share of crude oil imports to the seven Asian countries was 23.2%.

According to Moody's, it sees the price of oil much lower, as it downwardly revised its prior estimate of $65 per barrel to $55 in 2015, and for 2016, coming in at $53 per barrel. The spread was as narrow as 40 cents in May. "They continue to try to build those relationships". "The problem is that we don't just set prices in this country". India's industrial output grew by 6.4 percent in August, a near three year high according to latest available data.

It has been costly for Opec members that are dependent on oil revenue to balance their books. Saudi Arabia, which relies on oil for most of its revenue, is expected to post a budget deficit of nearly 20% of gross domestic product this year, according to the worldwide Monetary Fund.

Brent futures have fallen 15% on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange this year. It has nevertheless been approved for re-entry by all OPEC members for December 2015. The additional supply may end up replacing similar grades from Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Russian Federation, the agency said. "More likely the opposite". He supports federal legislation that would lift oil export restrictions and allow domestic producers to have more flexibility in selling to other countries.

Russian Federation became a major crude supplier to China, the world's second-largest oil consumers.

Increasing production to discourage US shale producers "isn't working out" for OPEC, and lowering production to drive up prices now would give American companies a bigger slice of the pie.

"I'm expecting Opec to be quite consistent in this position", Trafigura chief financial officer Christophe Salmon told the Reuters Commodities Summit. Putin has been supporting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's calls for an emergency OPEC meeting about prices and efforts to encourage Saudi Arabia to change its policy.

Officials from the two nations met in Vienna Wednesday as part of technical talksbetween OPEC and oil producers outside the group.

Venezuela, Nigeria, Algeria and several other Opec members need oil prices well over $100 barrel to cover their costs - twice the current crude price below $50.

"We see competition both among OPEC members and with non-OPEC producers for market share resulting in OPEC output levels showing stronger year-on-year growth in Q4 2015 and 2016". They hope lower prices will squeeze out their competition and boost prices in the long term.

"The Saudis have to be looking at their pocketbook every day", Clad said.