It’s possible that OPEC is crying wolf with hints of an output freeze next month in Algiers; but it’s also possible that they are ramping up production to take the sting out of a freeze. This is a delicate balancing act that the Saudis need to play very carefully. Read Here – OilPrice.com
The price stabilization may have precluded a true test of the Saudis’ future strategy, though there is ultimately little reason to believe that maintenance of high supply has been abandoned; it has merely been recalibrated to make the Kingdom a price taker rather than maker. Read Here – The National Interest
Since last August, when it became clear that the lifting of sanctions on Iran would unleash a massive increase in global oil supplies, $50 has proved to be a ceiling for the trading range of a barrel. But now that this level has been exceeded, will it again become a floor? Read Here – Project […]
While the immediate catalyst for economic restructuring is the impact of the sharp fall in international oil prices, the rationale for these reforms has been evident for much longer. With oil sales generating the bulk of government revenues, and with the public sector being the predominant employer, Saudi officials have long worried that the Kingdom’s […]
Dumping U.S. bonds is not really an option for any country holding major positions. To the extent that the number of bonds the United States sells is a problem—and it is a problem—it is not because it gives others leverage over America. It is because it is reflective of decades of out-of-control spending, which must […]
As President Obama prepares to travel to Saudi Arabia for a regional summit, several of the rulers he will meet are contending with dramatic changes at home. Plunging oil prices and soaring deficits are compelling Gulf countries to upend their decades-old social contract. Read Here – The National Interest
The failure of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to reach any meaningful agreement at their meeting in Vienna on Friday confirmed that the historic storm besetting the oil market has markedly reduced this once-powerful group’s effectiveness and influence. Read Here – Bloomberg
The Russian economy faces low growth at best and prolonged stagnation at worst. The outcome does not depend on oil prices and sanctions alone but also on more deeply rooted problems. Although some reckon that prolonged stagnation would bring Putin down, his repressive system shields him from economic mismanagement and from the costs of political […]
Saudi Arabia’s cash reserves are in free-fall and the country could have only five years of financial assets remaining due in large part to the fall in oil prices, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Read Here – The Independent
Russia’s recession, then, will be sharper, longer, and more painful than initially anticipated. And it’s not just because of the “meddlesome” West or its financial sanctions. Russia is squarely in the crosshairs of some ongoing changes in the world economy, changes that are going to make the next few years a lot more challenging than the past few. Read Here – The Moscow Times
looking beyond borders 