OPEC

OPEC+ September 2021 meet: Maintaining Status Quo

Since the last OPEC+ meeting, conducted on July 18th, the global oil market has witnessed some significant events. There has been a surge in covid cases due to the new delta variant, causing government restrictions in key demand centers of the world, subsequently putting pressure on the global oil demand and prices. In the week ending 20th August, oil brent price witnessed its worst weekly drop of 8% landing at $65.18 bbl, its lowest since April’21. On the supply end...

Could Delta variant play spoilsport for Oil prices?

The Delta variant, which the WHO has called the most transmissible variant of the coronavirus, has caused a surge in covid-19 cases around the world. With a rise in cases, comes a rise in restrictions by the governments to curb the transmission. Travel restrictions in different parts of the world, is set to exert downward pressure on the global jet fuel demand. During the week ending 20th August, Brent crude oil price witnessed its biggest weekly loss this year of...

Following a year of distress, Saudi Arabia economy back on growth path

Saudi Arabia economic growth as evidenced by its real GDP grew by 1.5% in Q2 2021 as compared with the same period last year, registering its first quarterly economic expansion since the start of COVID-19 pandemic early last year. Economic growth in Saudi Arabia was led by 10% increase in the non-oil sector (Q2, 2021 yoy basis), according to data from the General Authority for Statistics. While the government sector saw 0.7% growth, the oil sector recorded a decline of...

Oil Price Move yet to lift Saudi Aramco’s Share Price

Saudi Aramco the blue chip of Saudi Arabia and the world’s largest oil company took a drop in its stride last year post Covid-19 as oil demand slumped and OPEC+ which is led by Saudi Arabia agreed to sharp cut in oil exports by 9.7mmbpd effective May 2020 from an October 2018 baseline (with Saudi output cut from 12.3 mmbpd in March 2020 to 8.5 mmbpd) to shore up and stabilize the oil prices in the international market. In line...

How will trade war, Iran sanctions and OPEC supply cuts shape Oil markets in 2019?

Average crude oil prices have trended upwards for four consecutive months in 2019. The perception of oil risk due to factors like increasing geopolitical tensions triggered by the drone attack on Saudi oil vessels, the end of waivers for US sanctions on Iranian crude exports, unrest in Venezuela and sustained production cuts from OPEC may have all contributed to these higher oil prices. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that Venezuela’s oil output fell to 830,000 barrels per day (bpd)...

OPEC’s declining clout in a post-shale oil world

The first round of production cuts was agreed in November 2016 and was effective during January 2017 and was aimed at cutting down 750,000 barrels of oil per day from the global supply. Second round of the production cuts announced in May 2017 is aimed to take out 1.8 Mn barrels per day which is aimed at balancing the market. While most of the countries have agreed to the cut, some of critics of the plan point out that the...