And that will have consequences for the rest of the world
The United States and Saudi Arabia are locked in a bitter battle over oil, CNN Business reported last Friday. And it carries consequences, not only for the future of the global energy order but also for the future world order. Everything is at stake. Ever since the world began growing out of the COVID pandemic…
Washington is not as important to Riyadh as it used to be
In the mid-80s, it is said that U.S. President Ronald Reagan and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia colluded to destroy the oil markets by making it financially impossible for the then-Soviet Union to continue its Afghanistan venture. Oil markets crashed. The war on Afghanistan became untenable for Moscow. The Soviet Union disintegrated, and the world…
Ultimately – or after the U.S. mid-terms – the animosity will cool down
Oil is addictive. At least for addicts like me. While I took some time off over the last couple of weeks, the oil and energy world passed through major upheavals, with long-term geopolitical consequences. On Sept. 27, three offshore lines of the Nord Stream gas pipeline system on the bed of the Baltic Sea sustained…
Putin's War has lifted the Gulf states out of an almost decade-long economic slump
I am in Abu Dhabi and the glitter is visible – all around. With the oil-based economies of the Gulf’s current high budgetary surpluses, the glitter will only shine brighter. New projects worth hundreds of billions of dollars are being showcased throughout the region, from Saudi Arabia to Qatar and from Abu Dhabi to Kuwait.…
The prospects of a global economic slowdown are beginning to hit oil demand
The much-awaited ministerial meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, in the expanded OPEC+, opted to increase its September output by just 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Despite the urgings of U.S. President Joe Biden to open Saudi Arabia’s crude oil taps during his visit there, the announced output…
Saudi Arabia isn’t ready to ditch Russia
After a brief lull and a price drop, crude oil markets are heating up again, surging by more than US$2 a barrel last week. The Aug. 3 expanded OPEC+ ministerial meeting, which includes Russia, is just around the corner. And signals from producing countries aren’t helping to stabilize the markets. In addition, the threat of…
An intense tug of war is being waged on the global crude horizon
Stakeholders continue to make interesting moves across the global energy chess board. Six days after U.S. President Joe Biden flew out of Saudi Arabia – without any public commitment from Riyadh to increase crude output significantly – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman spoke by phone, underlining the importance of…
Biden wanted more crude, Mohammed bin Salman needed recognition. The visit served both purposes
What did United States President Joe Biden gain from a trip that took him to Saudi Arabia, the state he once promised to make into the pariah he said it deserved to be? What did Biden get from meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom he has avoided until now? In response to…
U.S. and Canada should work together to build new pipelines to strengthen North American energy security
Here’s an important message for U.S. President Joe Biden as he heads to Saudi Arabia tomorrow to ask the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase oil production: he should be asking Canada instead. Canada’s oil producers have helped to free American consumers from the world’s oil dictators before and can do it again…
Analysts warn that prices could reach $380/barrel if existing penalties prompt Russia to make cuts
The crude oil world is in deep flux. Ongoing attempts by the G7 to put a price cap on Russian crude exports – almost an admission of its failure to curb the flow of petro-dollars to Moscow – also meant it needed to do more. But moving ahead with the proposal could result in global…