Russia’s Oil Lead Challenged as Taxes Strangle Drilling
This article is for subscribers only.
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia are approaching Russia as the world’s leading oil producer, with production rising 12 percent in the U.S. and 5.9 percent in Saudi Arabia last year. The U.S. production spurt is 10 times Russia’s 1.2 percent growth rate.
The prime reason, according to oil company executives on the ground, is the Russian failure so far to repeal taxes that devour more than two-thirds of the revenue from a barrel of crude and thus have choked output.