OPEC and its allies will meet on Sunday, the latest sign that a standoff between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has been resolved. Oil ministers will meet at noon Vienna time and hold a press conference afterwards, the group confirmed. Officials have said privately in recent days that …
Read More »Saudi Arabia Warns Traders against Shorting Oil Prices
“Thanksgiving was a Thanksgiving day for the speculators,” said Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman. “But let them dare to do another Thanksgiving. They will be ouching like hell.” Saudi Arabia’s energy minister warned traders against shorting oil, saying OPEC+ could react quickly to any fall in prices. OPEC+, …
Read More »Russia and Saudi Arabia Step up Oil Diplomacy
Russia and Saudi Arabia held a second, and unusual, phone call this week to discuss the OPEC+ agreement after officials from the group warned on Friday of the potential for a weaker oil market in 2021. President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman spoke Saturday in …
Read More »OPEC Raised Supply Last Month as Gulf Nations Ended Extra Cuts
OPEC’s crude production rose last month as Gulf members phased out extra supply cutbacks, but the cartel largely persevered with its strategy to revive the global oil industry. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait restored the additional output taken offline in June, when they had amplified efforts to …
Read More »Saudis Set for Record Summer Oil Burn to Meet Air Conditioning Demand
As the Middle East enters the hottest days of summer, Saudi Arabia is set to burn potentially record amounts of crude oil to run its power plants and keep its citizens comfortably air-conditioned. Electricity consumption always soars around July and August, when temperatures in the kingdom can rise above 122 …
Read More »IEA Warns Oil Demand Recovery at Risk from Covid-19 Resurgence
The International Energy Agency bolstered its outlook for global oil demand, but warned that the recovery could be derailed by the resurgence of coronavirus. A collapse in fuel consumption during the second quarter was slightly less severe than previously estimated, and demand should rebound sharply over the next three months …
Read More »Saudi Arabia and Iraq will Cooperate to Balance Oil Market
Saudi Arabia and Iraq have agreed to coordinate with all oil producing countries to restore balance to the oil market, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA). SPA said the accord came during a meeting between Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister …
Read More »Aramco Seeks to Restructure $69.1 Billion Sabic Deal
Saudi Aramco is in early talks about further staggering payments for a controlling stake in local petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp. as the collapse in oil prices puts pressure on its finances. State-owned Aramco is weighing pushing out payments for the 70% holding in the petrochemicals maker and reducing …
Read More »Saudi Arabia Appears to Be Winning the Fight for Crude Sales
State oil producer Saudi Aramco slashed its official selling prices for April crude sales to some of the lowest levels in decades, undercutting rivals. The uneasy truce that settled over oil markets this month as some of the world’s largest producers began cutting output belies the raging competition among exporters …
Read More »Saudi Arabia Needs to Take Painful Measures to Address Economic Crisis
Finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said that government spending would need to be “cut deeply”. Saudi Arabia will need to take “painful” measures and look for deep spending cuts as the kingdom faces a double crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the meltdown in global oil markets, its finance minister …
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