Displaying items by tag: Saudi Arabia

(Houston)

Markets are plunging today, and the reason for the huge fall is the complete collapse of the oil market. The trouble is occurring because a price war is erupting in the oil market with Saudi Araba announcing that is was boosting production this morning. The move came as a response to Russia refusing to agree to production cuts to help insulate the market. The oil market responded by falling an eye-watering 30%. That immediately sent stocks plummeting too.

FINSUM: The market is doing its very best to compel Russia to agree to curb production. Surely a production cut wouldn’t cost them 30% of revenue!!

(Houston)

Oil took a phenomenal turn lower this week as news came out that half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production had been taken out via drone strikes. Yemeni’s took credit, but many suspect it actually came at the hands of Iran. Oil moved in a big way, up 20% at one point, representing the biggest percentage move in three decades. The drone strike is hugely consequential, as it removed 5% of the world’s daily oil supply. Airlines stocks were hit badly on the news, and Amazon may be the next big victim as higher oil prices mean higher shipping costs.

FINSUM: This big change is going to filter through markets in different ways, but the threat to Amazon seems real and very meaningful.

(Houston)

If you haven’t been paying attention, something very interesting has been happening in the oil market. That development is that the US has quietly replaced Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer. That is a major development because the US is outside of OPEC and thus is a major counter-balance (headache) to Saudi Arabia and OPEC’s ability to control oil prices. Each time Riyadh wants to cut output to boost prices, the US can raise its production to offset the cut.

FINSUM: The US is in a strategically superior position for the first time in a very long time. This whole dynamic is symptomatic of the new era of bountiful oil. We ultimately believe that prices will stay well below $100 for several years to come because of how supplied the market is.

(Houston)

Oil has been falling for several weeks, with prices dipping below the $50 mark for US crude. However, over the last couple of days, the price of black gold has surged. Investors may be left wondering what it all means. The answer is that Saudi Arabia and Russia announced their intentions to work together on another output cut, which sent prices surging. On the sidelines of the G-20, the Saudis and Vladimir Putin agreed to extend their output cuts. At the same times, Canada announced a curb on production.

FINSUM: Just as we have been saying, current movements in oil are particular to the sector and not indicative of the wider economy.

(Riyadh)

The oil market has been in an extremely rough patch over the last several weeks. Just a couple months ago, many were talking about the return of $100 oil. Suddenly, prices are just half that. The question is where is crude headed next. Well, the Saudis seem committed to keeping it weak, as the Kingdom, which leads OPEC, has just announced that it will not cut production. The catch is that it said it will not do so alone, which keeps the door open to another coordinated OPEC-wide cut, such as happened several months ago.

FINSUM: The big difference between a coordinated cut now and the one from a couple years ago is that the world looks much closer to recession a present, which means demand could flatten or fall even if output lowers. That means producers could lose revenue by cutting (instead of the difference being made up by price gains), which makes a big difference.