Then a sudden oversupply pushed prices south, until the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries met in November. The US and Canada are not members of OPEC. It could have decided to wind back production to restore prices, as it had done in the past, and many experts expected it to again. But that would have been a gift to the upstarts and also to Russia, which isn’t a member. Instead it decided to destroy their business model. Maintaining production and allowing the oil price to plummet would hurt the US and Canada far more than it would hurt OPEC.

Countries damaged by falling prices are Russia,Venezuela & Nigeria. Is this as Putin says a direct economic attack on the Russian economy?