Why Saudi Just Abandoned Its Core Oil Rule
Russian Refiners Ramp Up Diesel Output to Supply Trump Deal 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… Few could argue with U.S.
President Donald Trump’s key objective in launching ‘Operation Epic Fury’ against Iran on 28 February -- to prevent Iran from ever being able to develop a nuclear weapon.
All members of his Cabinet fully backed this aim at the time, as they did the other three: to effect regime change, to critically degrade Iran’s ballistic missile capability, and to neutralise the ability of its proxies, especially Hamas and Hezbollah, to cause mayhem across the Middle East and the world.
The degree to which these objectives have been achieved so far is a matter for debate, but what is not is that Washington’s closest Arab allies now harbour deep misgivings over America’s ability to shield them from the Iranian hornet’s nest that U.S.
This has again made them more susceptible to the soothing assurances from Beijing that it can keep them safe from the terror of Tehran over the long term.
This situation, in turn, threatens Trump’s ‘Abraham Accords’ plan that lay at the heart of his Middle East foreign policy, as fully examined in my latest book on thenew global oil market order.
Several recent moves by leading Middle East power Saudi Arabia underline this threat.
The most recent was the announcement from Saudi oil and gas flagship Aramco that it and the Kingdom are seeking to partner with other countries to expand their strategic oil stockpile.
Despite the perennial taking up of its crude production capabilities to boost its global profile over the years, Saudi Arabia’s average oil output from 1973 to yesterday is 8.295 million barrels per day (bpd), and it is currently around 8 million bpd.
That said, Saudi expects oil demand to bounce when the war ends and is also working on alternative export routes to circumvent the likely ongoing Iranian threat around the Strait of Hormuz, Bab al-Mandab Strait and Suez Canal.
Perhaps the single-most strategically important component of this effort to reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz remains the long-planned but now dynamically expedited India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
| 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% |
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