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On April 2nd, US President Donald Trump’s announcement that Moscow and Riyadh would alleviate pressure on the oil market led to a 46.7% jump in the price of Brent crude.
Finally, it settled at $29.94, which is a 21% gain, which is also massive.
Trump said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and Russian President Vladimir Putin had begun talks on how to curb production by as much as 15m barrels a day — a large chunk of the world’s oil demand, which stood at 100m b/d last year.
“I expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!” he said. “Could be as high as 15 Million Barrels. Good (GREAT) news for everyone!”
Just spoke to my friend MBS (Crown Prince) of Saudi Arabia, who spoke with President Putin of Russia, & I expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2020
After Trump’s announcement, Saudi Arabia’s state news agency said the kingdom was calling for an emergency meeting of Opec and other oil producer nations, including Russia.
It said it sought to reach a “fair” supply deal, but it didn’t commit to any other actions.
The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Crown Prince hadn’t spoken.
“There was no conversation” between Putin and Mohammed bin Salman, Peskov said.
“So far, no one has started talking about any specific or even abstract deals in exchange for Opec+,” he said.
Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said that he did not “exclude the option of negotiations” with Saudi Arabia, but that the collapse in demand meant that cuts to supply would not necessarily prevent further oil price falls.
Ryan Sitton, a Texas state regulator, somehow made his way into oil diplomacy and said that he had a conversation with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, and he would speak to Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, as well.
Just had a great conversation with Russia’s @novakav1. While we normally compete, we agreed that #COVID19 requires unprecedented level of int’l cooperation. Discussed 10mbpd out of global supply. Look forward to speaking with Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman soon.
— Ryan Sitton (@RyanSitton) April 2, 2020
Sitton had an entire 1-hour-long presentation explaining the situation, and how he planned to tackle it, more or less.
It is unclear how a local official will influence the entire situation, but it remains to be seen.
Helima Croft at RBC Capital Markets said: “There is a realisation in Washington that the path to a deal runs through Moscow. Everyone knows that Saudi Arabia wants Russia at the table but there is also a recognition that the US will have to participate in some way. But there are clear questions about what the US’s involvement will look like.”
Meanwhile, in the US it appears that shale companies are realizing that the root of the issue isn’t Moscow, but rather Riyadh and are lobbying for a push against the Kingdom.
Among the shale industry proposals are preventing Saudi crude from reaching the kingdom’s large Motiva refinery in Port Arthur, Texas; tariffs on foreign oil; or suspending the Jones Act, which helps make crude shipped by domestic suppliers more expensive than oil delivered on foreign tankers.
“Plan A is getting Saudi Arabia and Russia to talk and cut. But if that takes too long or fails, the president will resort to plan B — protectionist measures to assist domestic producers,” said Bob McNally, head of consultancy Rapidan Energy Group and a former White House adviser.
Others, however, are calling for both Russia and Saudi Arabia to be investigated for oil price manipulation, such as Harold Hamm, chairman of shale producer Continental Resources.
From tariffs to troop withdrawal: US politicians’ proposals to protect American #oil #oilpricewar #trump #coronavirus https://t.co/qu3HABhjtP
— OilPrice.com (@OilandEnergy) April 1, 2020
The Riyadh-initiated price war, is detrimental to both Russia and Saudi Arabia, but could also be lethal to the shale industry in the US.
In the last four years, shale has come under the control of the financial sector, which heavily invested in companies without any sustainable competitive advantage in the global oil market.
For example, there was heavy investment in companies producing “light” grades of oil that are not required in the US local market nor are they required for exports as massive volumes of these grades are available on the market already.
Therefore, most of the “new” oil-producing companies in the US are highly over-valued, while proving low covering assets.
The claim of US “energy independence” appears to have pushed authorities, Wall Street investors, banks and funds into chasing uneconomical investments.
They then demand additional investments and further expansion, which in turn required even more capital to cover the deep ongoing losses.
For Russia, oil exports contribute to 21 percent of Russia’s GDP, according to the estimates from CREON Energy, while in Norway this figure is 32 percent.
Therefore, the consequences of oil price collapse will be no more dramatic for Russia than it will be for other major oil-producing countries.
However, it is important to understand that Russia was neither technically nor contractually able to match the ‘surprise cut’, Saudi Arabia went ahead with its contingency plan and presented Russia as the antagonist in what is today referred to as a “price war”.
Furthermore, Russia has no interest to undermine its own prices, and supplies, as the COVID-19 pandemic is still full-fledged and just in its early phases in most places on the planet, meaning that the peak (and worst is yet to come).
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Is this just another untruth from the “exceptional” liar Trump? When the dust settles and the truth behind Corvid-19 is revealed….. the blame will be laid firmly at America’s door, where it belongs and then that bankrupt country will have more to worry about than their ponzi oil schemes !
The American are wrong just about everywhere. Never has there ever been such an ignorant yet arrogant country and people. Let them suffer bankruptcy and then perhaps they will learn to respect other people and nations.
Ponzi schemes is what has made Yanki Capitalism Exceptional. Fracking will be the first to go, by June at the latest. How long before the Biggest of them all crashes out, the Fed is printing trillions of fiat dosh with no petro-exchange that is surely about crash too, then Wall Street implodes. The Empire has No Toilet Paper and everyone can see its shitty arse….
losers=USA, saudis, UAE, canada winners=Russia, india, Iran, perhaps Venezuela
Bring the troops & Treasure home, cut off SA from the funds to wage war. Put our domestic work force in the field beside the troops to build and develop our infrastructure, renewable energy resources, Bering Strait pipeline (35 miles narrow and shallow) to Alaska and down to the lower 48 via exiting infrastructure/s. “will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!” needs to be swapped out with WILL BE GREAT FOR THE AMERICAN TAX PAYERS OUR Treasure, Commons and Unalienable Rights!
A whole lot of BS going on. Trump at least shows where his loyalty lies…’great news for the oil industry’. The sorriest SOBs in the world call this industry home. The Motiva plant processing Saudi crude? More like where they process Canadian tar sand oil they signed a deal on even before the pipelines were finished…which they put on the open market. The great shale scam isn’t bearing the fruit they had hoped. TFB. Shale hasn’t been profitable ($60/bbl) for some time, but with the drop in price, it isn’t even close to profitable. So how can they continue to be in business?…especially since it hasn’t been profitable for some time. As a money laundering scam, it’s worked out quite well for the producers and their bankster collaborators(world drug trade), but this is making the process harder to hide. Look up Harken Oil…run by GW and bankrolled by KSA and never produced a drop of oil. That is more likely their biggest worry…that and the fact that Russia can’t be put behind the 8 ball any longer by hurting their oil economy. Putin’s divestment and product expansion is paying off handsomely. Industry leaders called them on this shale scam years ago, 2015 at least. But they’re still in business? Their scurrying around is due to the real emergency in KSA, their oil bludgeon. Yemen and Saudi/US/Israeli ineptitude is causing a lot of sleepless nights for these vultures. They see their tool losing it’s ability to influence political ends. KSA+US oil& shale(also includes Canadian tar oil)= oil production and pricing control…vs. Putin’s out maneuvering sanctions= FAIL. Now the crying begins because their little plan has backfired and is killing their golden goose. The whole purpose of the buffoon saying there were talks was to accomplish what happened…a jump in oil prices by the speculators. Of course this might raise the price now, but as stated, with a drop in demand, won’t last. None of this is good for any of the other western oil producers as well. Also, with corona, this appears to be another nail in the world economy coffin. All together, it appears to me to be a run at world economic collapse(part of the ‘live fire exercise’?). But Russia and China and a couple other countries would have to get on board for it to be successful. It appears that all they have succeeded in doing is empowering Russia and the other multipolar leaning countries. Seems they have bitten off more than they can chew. For the oil industry to claim that KSA is all responsible and that they are trying to get them to cut production belies that fact that the US/Israel corporate criminals are the ones that devise and instigate these plans. All in all, it’s a lot of ass covering and finger pointing.
Can’t Russia agree to a cut in production with the stipulation that all sanctions be lifted? If Russia ever had the leverage to request that, it’s now. I can’t see them having this opportunity again.