Another Saudi official is trying to downplay the kingdom's expanding deficit - as their problems get worse...
On Saturday, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir maintained that the current situation was manageable. He was speaking at a conference in Manama, the capital of neighboring Bahrain.
The situation, of course, has been sparked by two Saudi-led decisions within OPEC. The first was to defend global market share by keeping production high (a move made last year while Americans were sitting down to their Thanksgiving turkeys). That started a downward slide in global oil prices.
The next move involved Riyadh opening the spigots on production, further exacerbating the pricing decline.
At the time, I noted the Saudis had no choice, given events unfolding elsewhere in OPEC.
Today, I'll show you why the wealthiest OPEC nation's situation has gotten worse - and look at the two recent developments that could accelerate the problem...
All OPEC Members Have Taken a Hit
OPEC members may be selling 40% of the world's oil requirements, but they also must import just about everything else they need domestically. That requires an increasing amount of hard currency - especially since populations are rising fast, while average ages are declining to the low 20s or even beyond.
So a country like Saudi Arabia, even with its vast raw material and hard currency wealth, has its hard currency revenue exposed in trade taking place outside its borders. In a low price environment, Saudi Arabia will consistently generate lower revenue in foreign sales while its required foreign product purchases will disproportionately increase in cost.
Because the cartel members are all dependent upon oil sales and run undiversified economies, the almost 60% collapse in crude prices hit every one of them hard. Defending market share is one thing, but rendering budgets inoperable is something else altogether.
Those least able to withstand the lowering revenue from crude sales simply sold more of it into the international market, further depressing oil prices and extenuating a downward pricing cycle.
OPEC members like Venezuela, Nigeria, Libya, Ecuador, and Iran are experiencing significant financial constriction. Each of these nations requires a crude oil price of well more than $120 a barrel to arrest a spreading fiscal paralysis.
But crude trades in London today at less than $50.
Having lost effective control over the pricing mechanism within OPEC, Saudi Arabia has taken a lesson from the pages of the "if you can't beat them, join them" book ...
Saudi Arabia Is Losing Billions on a Weekly Basis
Since the Saudis must import the bulk of their consumer products, they are rumored to be losing billions in hard currency exchange weekly. That's why even the most solvent OPEC producers - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - are experiencing budget deficits.
Now, they are nowhere close to "bake sale" territory. Recent estimates put Saudi's cash war chest at around $669 billion. As officials are wont to declare, they can run a deficit for decades.
But not at projected rates.
A deficit run by a rentier state (which takes profits from raw materials but provides little in the way of value-added development) tends to accelerate regardless of whether the country has the means to offset it with forex moves. A vicious cycle emerges well in advance of any threatened default or currency collapse.
And two recent decisions made by Riyadh accentuate the kingdom's quandary...
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About the Author
Dr. Kent Moors is an internationally recognized expert in oil and natural gas policy, risk assessment, and emerging market economic development. He serves as an advisor to many U.S. governors and foreign governments. Kent details his latest global travels in his free Oil & Energy Investor e-letter. He makes specific investment recommendations in his newsletter, the Energy Advantage. For more active investors, he issues shorter-term trades in his Energy Inner Circle.
Is 40.00 a barrel going to be a oil price
So, does this lead to OPEC, going to a basket currency platform?
Two things would cause a colapse of the dollar, one acceptance of the Yuan as international currency and OPEC leaving the Petrodallor.
I read your column on Saudi Arabia with great interest. I am wondering what the number would be for the price of oil if the Saudis did curtail production (and revenue) but the price of oil went up so that the drop in production would be offset (somewhat) by the increase in price. If they dropped their output by 25% what would the price of oil be then and how would that affect their overall revenues?
This article seems to point to a turnaround in the not too distant future. With Saudi choking on hard cash out, there's only one way to stop it. Flip the price and start reaping the hard loss. American operators are barely holding on and need to hold on just a while longer before OPEC cracks. Greed will overcome, them (opec).
No tears from me….it might be better for US overall if Saudi cut production somewhat, since our frackers can respond very quickly….but predicting the future is a mugs game with this many moving pieces and actors with divergent agendas and needs….so my own view is that betting on the future prices of oil is a very poor retirement plan….
What would be a price/bbl that would enable the US to return to manufacturing below-ground and mid-stream?……we need to go back to work!
Oh what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day.
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