Internal differences are killing OPEC and its ability to influence the markets has all but evaporated, the head of Russia’s biggest oil firm Rosneft, told Reuters in some of his harshest remarks ever about the 13-member group.
"At the moment, a number of objective factors exclude the possibility for any group to dictate their will to the market ... As for OPEC, it has practically stopped existing as a united organization," Igor Sechin added.
"The company (Rosneft) was skeptical from the very beginning about the possibility of reaching any sort of joint agreement with OPEC's involvement in current conditions."
"Just to remind you, the only one question with which we responded to those who were interested to know our position: 'Who should we agree with and how?' The development of the situation has clearly shown we were right."
Russia, which has been hit hard by the oil price collapse, was playing with the idea of cooperating with OPEC in recent months until tensions between OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Iran ruined a global deal to freeze output.
Sechin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, was the only Russian official to consistently oppose the deal with OPEC even after the Kremlin endorsed the plan.
