Russia Could be Trigger for $200 Oil and Global Recession

Exacerbating the high oil prices are production problems in Russia, the world’s second largest oil exporter. Aging oil fields and a lack of infrastructure investment has led to the country’s first annual production decline in 10 years. Output fell 0.9% to 9.76 million barrels a day in the first five months 2008, Bloomberg reported.

“Growth last quarter fell on a year-on-year basis, and this has to do with the policies implemented over the prior year to raise taxes on oil industries,” Deutsche Bank’s Sieminski said, speaking of Russia’s oil difficulties. “This made it difficult for foreign capital to come in.”

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