As Opec-plus ministers prepare to meet in Vienna on Sunday, the relationship between its leading members, Saudi Arabia and Russia, is drawing scrutiny again. Ties between the two have been closely watched ever since the Opec-plus alliance was created in late 2016 to better manage the global oil market through cooperation between Opec and non-Opec producers. The two heavyweight producers briefly fell out in 2020, when Moscow opposed big new Opec-plus supply cuts in response to the Covid-19 crisis. That led to a temporary collapse in the dialogue between producers and a short-lived price war, which was soon followed by ... (full story)