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Russian oil production tops Saudi Arabia

We're no longer getting the larger portion of our oil from places like Texas and Saudi Arabia. Crude oil is increasingly coming to the market from places like Venezuela, Central Africa, and Russia. Now a report from The New Zealand Herald confirms this trend.

From, "Russia oil production overtakes Saudi Arabia":

Russia is extracting more oil than Saudi Arabia, making it the biggest producer of "black gold" in the world, figures show.

The statistics, from the oil cartel Opec, reflect a trend that has seen the Russians periodically surpass the Saudis as the world's biggest oil producers on and off since 2002.

These latest figures are being hailed in Russia as evidence that such periodic production spikes are not one-offs though and that Moscow really does have a right to lay claim to the No 1 spot.

According to Opec, Russia extracted 9.236 million barrels of oil a day in June, 46,000 more than Saudi Arabia.

The article goes on to note that, "money from oil & gas accounts for 52.2 percent of all revenues to the state treasury". I guess that's why they were recently able to pay off $22 billion in debt owed to the Paris Club. Reports from Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian on Russia's debt repayments seem to concur.

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