- Internal differences are destroying OPEC and the cartel's ability to influence the markets has virtually disappeared, Rosneft (OTCPK:RNFTF) CEO Igor Sechin tells Reuters.
- Sechin, a close ally of Russian Pres. Putin, was the only Russian official to consistently oppose an oil price deal with OPEC even after the Kremlin effectively endorsed a plan; now that his gloomy predictions about talking to OPEC have come to pass, Sechin feels vindicated.
- "At the moment a number of objective factors exclude the possibility for any cartels to dictate their will to the market... As for OPEC, it has practically stopped existing as a united organization," Sechin says.
- "Key factors which are influencing the market are finance, technology and regulation. We can see this with the example of shale oil," Sechin says as he calls on Russia to abandon any hope that prices can be fixed by any means other than market rebalancing.