[A-List] Russia's Oil Output

["Yoshie Furuhashi" <critical.montages@xxxxxxxxx>]

The WSJ says that Russia's oil output growth has slowed down: "Energy
prices are falling, if slowly. Russia's rusty gas and oil rigs cry out
for fresh investment. Oil output slowed again last year, to 2.2%,
compared with near-double-digit growth earlier in the decade, when
Russia's private concerns, some of them since nationalized, led the
way.  Alienating friends like the Germans and scaring away investors
like Shell, dumped last month from the lead in the Sakhalin-2 project,
aren't smart ways to address these problems" ("Crude Calculations," 11
January 2007).  The WSJ attributes the slowdown to lack of foreign
investment, but some Russia hands believe that it is due to Moscow's
conscious efforts to conserve its resources.  Which is true?
--
Yoshie
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