Posted on 10/13/2014 6:11:33 AM PDT by blam
Ron Bousso and Joshua Schneyer, Reuters
October 13, 2014
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is quietly telling oil market participants that Riyadh is comfortable with markedly lower oil prices for an extended period, a sharp shift in policy that may be aimed at slowing the expansion of rival producers including those in the U.S. shale patch.
Some OPEC members including Venezuela are clamoring for urgent production cuts to push global oil prices back up above $100 a barrel. But Saudi officials have telegraphed a different message in private meetings with oil market investors and analysts recently: the kingdom, OPEC’s largest producer, is ready to accept oil prices below $90 per barrel, and perhaps down to $80, for as long as a year or two, according to people who have been briefed on the recent conversations.
The discussions, some of which took place in New York over the past week, offer the clearest sign yet that the kingdom is setting aside its longstanding de facto strategy of holding prices at around $100 a barrel for Brent crude in favor of retaining market share in years to come.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
"While it is beyond a doubt that the primary catalyst for Europe's triple-dip recession has been the nearly two quarters and counting of escalating Russian sanctions that were supposed to solely harm Putin (because who could have possibly foreseen that plunging German exports to Russia would have a far greater impact on the export-driven German economy), the truth is that the Kremlin itself is starting to hurt, if not so much as a result of the European trade embargo but mostly due to crashing oil prices, which have been driven lower almost exclusively by Saudi Arabia as part of its most recent secret bargain with the US, a bargain which as we read today is likely to tear OPEC apart."
Could it be that the Muslims in Riyadh are trying to help out one of their own come election time?
It isn’t unusual for oil prices to start falling around November due to decreased demand.
Hah.
Seems several years ago I recall it was around $85 bbl and gas prices were still over $3 gallon. Of course probably because of the price of refining it, but still...
The Obama lovers on CNBC are salivating every morning that the declining price of gas will ensure that this will be a great Christmas shopping season, thus propping up this false “recovery” when it is noticeably lagging.
It proves how out of touch they are, because with food prices going through the roof, any savings at the gas pump will be literally eaten up at the table. Anyone who really shops for food knows that a “pound” of coffee is now 12 oz. and costs more for less, and decent hamburger now costs what steak used to cost per pound. We are not fooled, and we are not happy.
Probably not, it’s probably just to slow down drilling in this country.
At $80, with the cost of some of the wells being drilled there will never be a payout.
It will cost more to drill/complete than you will ever get out of it so you don’t get investors to put money into drilling.
No money, no drilling.
No they are trying to stamp out horizontal drilling and fracing by selling at an artificially low price.
I think the 80’s Texas oil bust is the example here.
Costs drop considerably in each election cycle. This is normal, and I think one of the reasons that oil contracts have to firmed by august. So the oil companies buy during the drop.
yep, there’s that too.
There you have it.
And these are the 'friendly' sandni Muzis.
spit
Not in this temperate climate i.e., northern Mi.
low oil prices will also be a slam on Russia and Venezuela
Which is nice.
Like they did during the Carter administration
Drill baby drill worked.
If SA is hoping to affect an election it’s the 2016 election for Hillary to say Drill baby drill doesn’t work.
I don’t think it relates to US politics. The Saudis are just trying to make US oil production unprofitable.
Yep
Are they trying to force Frackers out of business with low Oil prices ?
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