Russia mulls producer support

The Kremlin may change rules to soften the blow of any drop in production

Russia’s oil producers may still have a stay of execution from maximum pain caused by collapsed demand after the Putin’s regime’s invasion on Ukraine in late February. But plans are being considered to try to lessen the blow once its full impact is felt. Delays until all announced bans of Russian oil imports come into force and some success in rerouting volumes that might previously have landed in Europe to more willing Asia-Pacific buyers have taken a portion of the sting out of the demand crunch. And there is also a delay between a slide in demand and the need to throttle back output. “As the Covid-19 pandemic showed, there is about a two-month lag between demand fall and production reduct