RSS feedsaudi arabia
’Why you really can’t swap Libyan crude easily, at all
It’s not just about finding enough quality crude to replace Libya — it’s about the not insubstantial political risks hanging over those supplies, too.
Fighting in Libya worsened on Wednesday, as rebels counter-attacked an offensive by Gaddafi forces into the country’s east — which is where much of the oil production is (was),
Bahrain’s strategic importance, graph du jour
Wondering why Saudi Arabia is so fussed about Bahrain?
JBC Energy encapsulates the reason in one helpful chart:
Most of Saudi Arabia’s chief producing fields are right around the corner.
As the analysts noted on Wednesday (our emphasis):
Saudi contagion shivers
This is Saudi Arabia’s benchmark stock index on Tuesday:
It’s own some 6.6 per cent — its lowest since September 2009 — on ongoing rumours that Saudi Arabia is sending tanks to Bahrain to support its ruling regime.
Libyan oil supply, and short-term whiplash
A confusing picture at the moment on measures to address the Libyan supply shortfall in the short term — even as Gaddafi’s end seems to be nearing, at last.
And it really is the short term that matters for those exposed to Libya.
Scrambling to swap Libyan crude for Saudi
Hitting the wires at pixel time — an astonishing promise:
RIYADH, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia is willing and able to supply high quality, light oil to replace any lost Libyan crude, senior Saudi sources said on Thursday.
Why you really can’t swap Libyan oil for Saudi
Apart from the prospect of $220 a barrel…
Much discussion on Wednesday of whether Opec could pump more oil from the Arabian peninsula to make up for Libya going offline — so we thought these pointers from Barclays Capital’s Amrita Sen might help:
Boosting Saudi supply
Supply of government cash to hose down dissent, that is.
While many argue that Saudi Arabia and its oil reserves remain in little danger of being rocked by unrest, King Abdullah perhaps disagrees.
Via Al Arabiya,
Life in the Gaddafi oil market
Breaking at pixel time — Reuters quoting an Italian government source that ‘informal’ Opec talks have begun on raising output if Libyan supply collapses (only for the Saudi oil minister to deny that Opec will consider extraordinary talks.)
Which is precisely what the supply has been doing (the country’s gas exports aren’t looking too hot either).
From Libya to Saudi Arabia
Definitely the strangest sovereign rating action we’ve seen in a while:
Fitch Ratings has downgraded Libya’s Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB+’ and placed them both on Rating Watch Negative (RWN).
Oil spikes, shocks and stocks
With oil on the rise, what next for equity markets?
That’s the question KBW try to answer in a note out on Monday. The analysts look for correlations over the last 50 years between big (ten and 20 per cent quarter on quarter) WTI rises and changes in the S&P500 and the Keefe Bank Index.
The central oil bank of Saudi Arabia
Opec’s March meeting came and went this week, with hardly a bat of an eyelid from the global marketplace.
The oil ministers, who met in Vienna, opted to keep output targets unchanged on the presumption demand should pick up later in the year,
Is Cushing souring up the oil market?
Last week both Nymex and ICE began trading brand new oil futures linked to the Argus’ new Sour Crude Index — the ASCI.
The exchanges developed the futures in response to Saudi Aramco abandoning the Platts WTI benchmark in favour of the Argus sour benchmark back in October.
RIP oil fundamentals?
Remember the days when hurricanes and geo-political events made oil fly?
Well, according to Olivier Jakob at Petromatrix, those days — for the time being at least — should be forgotten. The correlations between the Dow,
Saudi Aramco’s WTI snub
Remember those problems WTI crude had earlier this year with Cushing delivery? Remember how they cast a doubt on the grade’s position as a global oil benchmark?
Well it seems Saudi Aramco, the state oil company of the world’s top oil exporting nation,
That Opec effect on fuel cracks
When Opec first started cutting crude production back in October, one of the immediate effects on the market was a pullback in the supply of heavy sour crudes.
As we noted before, this is because Saudi Arabia, Opec’s largest and most proficient swing producer,
The world and the dollar react to Robert Fisk
As we reported earlier, The Independent appears to have rocked the world on Tuesday with its Robert Fisk exclusive exposing a secret plot by international central banks to topple the US dollar.
As we’ve stressed,
The not-so-bullish case for energy prices
The bullish case for oil has been fairly well established by the likes of Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Merrill Lynch at al.
But, as it turns out, there’s a convincing bearish case to be made too — and the man putting it forward most recently is Edward Morse,
Saudi groups’ dispute sparks lending fears
The financial travails of two prominent Saudi companies locked in a bitter dispute has caused banks in Saudi Arabia to clamp down on lending to private sector companies, setting back the economic recovery in the world’s top oil producer,
The Fake Sheikh is back in town… (2nd update)
… and we’re not talking the News of the World’s fancy dress enthusiast Mazher Mahmood.
Yesterday afternoon news organisations the world over received a fax (yes, a fax, remember those?) from an organisation called Arabian Peninsula Group announcing a $49.50 bid for US car stereo-maker and Essex boy-racer staple Harman International.
Saudi fund eyes £700m UK real estate deal
An investment manager part-owned by the Saudi royal family is planning to invest a chunk of its assets in UK and US commercial property, according to Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, its chairman.For Jadwa Investment,
A timely Kingdom of Saudi Arabia brief
Setting aside that Saad little issue, there’s an increasingly widespread belief that the GCC region is on the mend.
With president Obama visiting Saudi Arabia, local investment bank NCB Capital have produced a 260-page briefing on the kingdom,
Saad junked
In case you missed the Moody’s downgrade of Saad on Tuesday morning, here are some selected highlights. Emphasis ours:
Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the ratings of Saad Trading Contracting & Financial Services Company (STCFSC),
Do buy Dubai (and Saudi too), Merrill says
FT Alphaville has featured a series of bearish articles on the Emirates of late (see related links for examples), so here’s a bullish counterpoint: Merrill Lynch believes the region is “a compelling trading buy for investors looking for laggards.”
Sa(a)d investments
If you want to know why HSBC was underperforming a rising market on Monday morning, look no further than this fascinating story from Saudi Arabia.
It concerns businessman Maan al-Sanea, who was ranked 62 amongst Forbes’ world billionaires list this year,
Major blow to Gulf common currency plans
Progress on the formation of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a project that aims to create a Gulf Arab monetary union, had been going swimmingly of late.
Most importantly, earlier this month, the GCC got over what was assumed to be one of its most thorny issues – the choosing of a headquarters.
Gold bug: Saudi Arabia?
Ahead of that G20 gold standard, surely.
Riyadh: There has been an unprecedented demand for gold in the Saudi market recently, with over 13 billion Saudi riyals (Dh12.75 billion) being spent on the yellow metal during the last two weeks.
Saudis quosh oil output rise
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producer, has put on hold any plans to further increase long-term production capacity from its vast oil fields, its most powerful policymakers have said. In a series of statements,
Infrastructure lures investment banks to Saudi
When investment banks decide they want to build operations in the Gulf, their first stop is often Dubai, says Lex, not least because it is fairly easy to persuade bankers to go and works there. The next stop is the highly protected Saudi Arabian market.