As the United States pressed Saudi Arabia to end its oil price war with Russia, US President Donald Trump gave Saudi leaders an ultimatum. In an April 2 phone call, Trump told Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman that unless the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) started cutting …
Read More »Oil Producers Dig into Savings Amid Fiscal Deficits
Today many of the world’s major cities remain under lockdowns while their respective government is implementing work-from-home schemes.
Read More »Trump Considers all Options to Make the Saudis Pay for the Oil Price War
President Donald Trump is considering all options available to him to make the Saudis pay for the oil price war as the crash that followed has done significant damage to the U.S. oil industry With last month having seen the indignity of the principal U.S. oil benchmark, West Texas Intermediate …
Read More »China should Play Off Oil Producers against Each Other in Crisis
Oil is now a buyer’s market and China is the world’s largest purchaser of crude. As prices have plunged to multi-decade lows, the country may be reaping geopolitical advantages, if not economic benefits. China relies on imports for more than 70 per cent of domestic consumption. However, some commentators have …
Read More »Russia and Saudi Arabia Fight over Oil Market Share
China imported 31 percent more oil from Russia last month while its intake of Saudi crude slipped by 1.8 percent compared to March 2019, Reuters reported, citing calculations based on official customs data. Overall crude oil imports rose by 4.5 percent on the year to 9.68 million bpd. Of the …
Read More »China Boosts Oil Imports from Russia
Shipments of Russian crude oil to China increased more than 30 percent in March compared to a year earlier while Saudi imports of the commodity sank, Reuters reported, citing Chinese customs data. As crumbling demand for crude and lack of storage space have been wreaking havoc on the oil market, …
Read More »US Refiners in Harm’s Way If Trump Blocks Saudi Oil
President Trump has spent significant political capital during the coronavirus pandemic tending to the wounds of shale oil producers, but refiners who transform the crude into fuels for consumers are suffering as well. Refineries, with no demand for their fuel, are already operating at about 30% lower capacity than what …
Read More »Saudis Join Three Other OPEC+ Nations Cutting Output Early
Saudi Aramco began reducing oil production earlier this week ahead of the May 1 start date for OPEC+ output cuts, according to a Saudi industry official familiar with the matter. Aramco has begun to curtail production from about 12 million barrels a day to achieve the agreed level of 8.5 …
Read More »Saudi Aramco Starts Cutting Output Ahead of May 1 OPEC+ Target
Saudi Aramco started reducing production earlier this week ahead of the May 1 deadline when new OPEC+ output targets kick in, according to a Saudi industry official familiar with the matter. Aramco started to reduce production from about 12 million barrels a day to achieve the new level of 8.5 …
Read More »Japan Firm to Conduct Feasibility Study for Saudi Petrochemical Plant
Japan-based JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation will conduct the feasibility study of a new ethylidene norbornene (ENB) plant, to be built in Jubail, as part of the Amiral petrochemical complex, announced by Saudi Aramco and Total on Oct. 8, 2018. The new ENB plant project would make the Kingdom …
Read More »