Category: Saudi Arabia

A drop in Saudi Arabian oil supply last month doesn’t necessarily signal that the biggest producer in OPEC is cutting exports to bolster prices. Brent crude jumped after a person familiar with the country’s oil policies said the amount it supplied to markets fell in September by 328,000 barrels a day. The drop came after domestic demand increased to the most in at least 12 years. The market’s reaction underscores the focus on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries before the group’s meeting next month after a global glut of oil drove crude futures down into a bear market . OPEC increased output to the highest in almost three years and the Saudis pumped 100,000 barrels a day more than in August. “This is not yet a signal that Saudi Arabia has taken a step forward in markedly reducing oil supply with an objective to shore up prices,” Harry […]

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When Saudi rulers send warplanes on missions against Islamic State, they’re targeting a group whose theocratic ideology and roots in desert warfare overlap at least partly with the kingdom’s own present and past. The world’s largest oil exporter has evolved into a mostly urban society in its eight decades of statehood, yet nomadic fighters erupting from the desert in a blaze of religious zeal are still part of its foundation narrative. Today in Saudi Arabia , as in the territory controlled by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq , women must wear black abayas, shops all close during prayer times, religious police enforce Islamic laws and criminals face violent punishment. Saudi Arabia, like its longtime U.S. ally, sees Islamic State as a terrorist group and has joined the war against it. Yet the jihadists share some common ground with their Saudi opponents, even if that’s outweighed by their differences, […]

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Printer-friendly Oil prices (along with prices of many other commodities ) have fallen dramatically since last summer. Some observers are waiting to see if Saudi Arabia responds with significant cutbacks in production. I say, don’t hold your breath. Source: FRED. Source: FRED . When oil demand fell in the 1981-82 recession, the Saudis cut production by 6 million barrels a day in an effort to soften the decline in oil prices. They also cut production in response to lower demand in the 2001 recession and the most recent recession. On the other hand, the kingdom boosted production quickly beginning in August 1990 and January 2003 in anticipation of lost production from Iraq in the two Gulf Wars. This historical behavior led many observers to believe that Saudi Arabia would always play the role of a swing producer to stabilize the price of oil. Monthly crude oil production from Saudi […]

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Saudis investigating incident after oil pipeline hit by stray bullet. (UPI/Shutterstock/tcly) RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 20 (UPI) — Authorities in Saudi Arabia said they’re conducting an investigation into an incident that left an oil pipeline in the eastern part of the country ablaze. The Saudi Press Agency reported authorities were able to control the blaze that erupted after a stray bullet hit the pipeline early Saturday. Local police said they conducted an investigation into the incident that followed a clash between area assailants and a security patrol. A 2012 report from Press TV, a broadcast agency controlled by Saudi adversary Iran, attributed a pipeline explosion in eastern Saudi Arabia to a substantial rise in crude oil prices. The report said a pipeline designed to carry as much as 6 million barrels of oil per day to the Ras Tanrua oil terminal was destroyed, though the account was later said […]

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Russian oligarchs, Iranian clerics, Texan tycoons: The list of Saudi Arabia’s supposed targets reads like a James Bond cast of characters. The real victims could be a more prosaic bunch: Continue Reading

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait halted production at a jointly run oil field, known as Khafji, this week due to environmental concerns, people familiar with the matter said Sunday.  The field, Continue Reading

As oil prices have tumbled , one question has reverberated around the market: what is Saudi Arabia up to? Little restraint has been shown by some energy market watchers in their commentary on the recent sell-off and the role played by Opec’s biggest producer. More On this story Editorial Good news from the lower price at the pump Comment Oil gush keeps prices low On this topic Sergei Guriev Russia and low oil prices Oil rallies sharply after near 4-year low How do oil producers balance their books? US crude price falls under $80 IN Commodities LME to run palladium and platinum ‘fixes’ US crude prices approach $80 China copper imports set to plunge Europe’s big comeback will shake up sugar The 25 per cent fall in the price of Brent crude since mid-June, to almost four-year lows, they say, is the result of a deliberate strategy by the […]

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Conspiracy theories abound around the oil price fall . A 25 per cent drop in less than three months is certainly exceptional and the assumption is that in a politically driven market a political decision by someone, somewhere must have forced prices down. The most popular conspiracy theory is that the US and the Saudis have combined to take money away from their major enemies – Russia and Iran. In both cases, [the argument goes], a shortage of revenue could help to bring President Vladimir Putin and the Supreme Leader, the ailing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , to the negotiating table to sort out a deal on Ukraine and Iran’s nuclear ambitions. In a complicated world anything could be true. I don’t happen to believe the conspiracy theory but I accept that it is a possibility. To me the interesting thing is what happens next, and that is down to […]

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A worker looks at journalists during a media tour of the Khurais oilfield, about 160 km (99 miles) from Riyadh, June 23, 2008. State oil giant Saudi Aramco is adamant the biggest new field in its plan to raise oil capacity will arrive bang on schedule in June next year. REUTERS/Ali Jarekji (SAUDI ARABIA) ©Reuters By encouraging oil prices to fall , Saudi Arabia is taking a calculated gamble in its already strained relationship with the US, hoping that the potential damage to America’s shale industry will be offset by the geopolitical and economic prizes on offer to Washington. At a time when the US and Saudi Arabia are fighting a new war together in Iraq and Syria, the Saudis have taken the bold step of asserting their pivotal role in the oil market and subtly squeezing the finances of some of America’s fledgling shale companies. More On this […]

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Print Back to story The bear market in oil is showing the world there’s still only one country in a position to choose winners and losers in the global market: Saudi Arabia . The world’s largest oil exporter is trying to protect its market share by keeping its production steady even as prices hit a four-year low. Energy producers in turmoil, such as Russia, Iran and Venezuela, stand to lose the most, U.S. shale drillers and other Saudi rivals will suffer and industrialized importing countries including Japan will get a boost from cheaper prices. “Saudi Arabia is the only one in the position of putting more oil on the market when they want to and cutting production when they want to,” said Edward Chow, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington. “Consumers win, producers lose.” Brent crude , the international benchmark, fell as […]

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