Saudi Arabia’s Decided Who Its Future Superpower Partner Is, And It’s Not the US
Europe’s Top Gas Distributor to Invest $14.8 Billion in AI-Backed Networks Simon Watkins is a former senior FX trader and salesman, financial journalist, and best-selling author.
He was Head of Forex Institutional Sales and Trading for… Since the replacement of Russia by China as the primary would-be superpower rival to the U.S., Saudi Arabia has sought to balance its relationships with Beijing and Washington -- sometimes leaning more one way, and sometimes the other.
Until the 2014-2016 Oil Price War, the U.S.
was the core relationship; after the war had finished, it was China and Russia; and then, from the start of U.S.
President Donald Trump’s second term in office, it was the U.S.
However, in the aftermath ofOperation Epic Furyagainst Iran, this looks set to shift once more back to China and Russia, with a series of high-level meetings between Chinese and Saudi Arabian officials taking place last week.
One of these -- between the deputy head of China’s National Energy Administration, Song Hongkun, and Saudi Aramco’s Downstream President, Mohammed Al Qahtani -- focused on boosting global energy security and bilateral oil and gas cooperation between the two sides.
So, how has the global oil market arrived at this point, and what happens next? The genesis of the current position lies in the financial devastation to OPEC countries of the 2014-2016 Oil Price War, fully analysed in my latest book on thenew global oil market order.
Before the conflict started, there had been a broad and deep relationship between the U.S.
and Saudi Arabia based on a landmark agreement between Washington and Riyadh formulated at a meeting on 14 February 1945 between the then-U.S.
Roosevelt and the Saudi King at the time, Abdulaziz Al Saud.
would receive all the oil supplies it needed for as long as Saudi Arabia had oil in place, in return for which the U.S.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
Comments
Post a Comment