Putin's meeting with Saudi's King Salman could end in a coup as OPEC turning East and away from the U.S.

9:26 AM china, oil, opec, petrodollar, russia, saudi arabia, u.s. No Comments

As the monumental first visit from the Saudi monarch to Russia winds down, a new day could be breaking that may have dire consequences to the West and to dollar hegemony.  That is because more and more it is appearing that Russia is usurping OPEC into its dominion and away from the long-standing relationship the oil cartel has had with the U.S. through the petrodollar agreement.

Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said the partnership between Moscow and Riyadh has inspired unprecedented cooperation from 24 oil-producing states, including Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries members and non-OPEC nations. 

“It has breathed back life into OPEC which found itself, quite frankly, unable to swing its production as supply was persistently high in 2014 and global inventories were steadily rising ahead of demand,” he said at the Russia-Saudi investment forum in Moscow. 

The minister is optimistic about the potential rebalancing of the oil market and added that prices would be determined by the market. 

“Prices are ultimately for the markets to determine based on marginal cost of production and expectations of supply and demand. But as I think of fundamentals I am more optimistic than I have been in the last two or three years, demand is healthy around the world in developed and developing countries,” said the minister. 

Al-Falih added that the deal reached by OPEC and non-OPEC countries in November 2016 in Vienna notably helped to stabilize oil prices. The agreement remains in force until the end of March 2018. 

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) in cooperation with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is considering joint work on 25 investment projects in various areas, according to Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak. - Russia Today

In addition, a de facto collaboration with Russia also means that the OPEC nations have solidarity with China, as Eurasia and the Far East are already in lock-step regarding how energy is sold in the East.  And with Iran, Iraq, Qatar, and now Venezuela well on their way towards accepting Rubles and Yuan in their sale of oil, there is very quickly becoming little need for OPEC to remain under a pure dollar standard, and the balance of power that has been in America's favor since 1973 is quickly bowing out to a new financial order.