The graphic is pulled from an article on Russia and Saudi Arabia agreeing to hold production at current levels. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-16/saudi-arabia-and-russia-agree-oil-output-freeze-in-qatar-talks
Holding production at current levels, of course, does not cause the price of oil to go up, but may limit the amount it will decline. Added to that, Iran is still increasing production and Iraq might if it could ever regain control of Mosul and surrounding areas. There is still considerable pressure to further reduce the price of oil.
I am no expert on the oil market, so I will leave making more precise incorrect predictions to those experts. But I gather the price of oil will not be climbing stratospherically upwards for the next year or two. This puts significant economic, budgetary, and of course, political pressure on a number of major oil producers. Russia is not alone in this regard.
Our focus has been on Russia, but there are a number of other countries clearly being impacted by the long-term decline in oil prices. The countries on that list that get my attention are:
- Saudi Arabia
- Iraq
- Iran
- Venezuela
- Nigeria
- Algeria
- Bahrain (which is not on that list)