Saudi Arabia's Oil War With Russia Is 'Heating Up'

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) attends a meeting with Saudi Defence Minister Prince Mohammad Bin Salman at the Konstantin (Konstantinovsky) Palace in St. Petersburg. Grigory Dukor / Reuters

Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg: Saudi Arabia's Oil War With Russia

As President Vladimir Putin tries to restore Russia as a major player in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is starting to attack on Russia's traditional stomping ground by supplying lower-priced crude oil to Poland.

At a recent investment forum, Igor Sechin, chief executive of Rosneft, Russia's biggest oil company, complained about the Saudis' entry into the Polish market. "They're dumping actively," he said. Other Russian oil executives are worried, too. "Isn't this move a first step toward a redivision of Western markets?" Nikolai Rubchenkov, an executive at Tatneft, said at an oil roundtable Thursday. "Shouldn't the government's energy strategy contain some measures to safeguard Russia's interests in its existing Western markets?"

Update: Return of the Oil Weapon -- Kevin Sullivan, Real Clear World

WNU editor: Will Saudi Arabia succeed in changing Russian policy .... I doubt it. There are bigger concerns at play right now .... and the price of oil (while important), is not on the top of the list.