Saudi Arabia and Russia must have anticipated an oil price crash when they broke up their three-year-long bromance to push up oil prices. Two weeks later and nearly 4 million bpd of total promised additional oil supply to the market next month, and Riyadh and Moscow are now counting the cost and trying to adjust government spending. The friends-turned-foes expect sharp drops in oil revenues in the near term, not only because Brent Crude is barely managing to cling to the $30 mark these days, but also because the coronavirus pandemic is leading to huge demand destruction . Saudi Arabia announced this week that it is reducing government expenditures by US$133 billion (50 billion Saudi riyals), or nearly 5 percent of its budget spending for 2020 after the government approved “a partial reduction in some items with the least social and economic impact.” These measures were approved “in light […]