Russian production thaws

It was keeping to the pledge not to lift oil output. Now the battle is to sustain recent highs

DOHA may have yielded nothing, but Russia’s oil output is nonetheless firmly in the freeze frame as industry sceptics try to establish whether the Kremlin is as committed to keeping production as high as it says it will. Oil output was edging higher as Russia attempted to coordinate a broad oil-output deal to hit the brakes on further supply-side gains. Even before that deal collapsed on 17 April, question marks were hanging over its own commitment to freezing supply – about whether it would pump more, or whether it was facing certain decline anyway. Now the government, stung by the Doha failure and the prospect of even higher supply reaching markets by an unfettered Saudi Arabia, is getting