Saudi Arabia Decrease Prices for Crude Oil Exports to The US Market

Crude oil dives on oversupply problem

05-Nov-14

On news that Saudi Arabia cut its official prices for crude exports to the US market, crude oil futures on the NYMEX dipped to lows of US$75/bbl on Tuesday’s intra-day trading, before paring some of the losses, as per ChemOrbis. This pulled US oil prices to a 4-year-low amid widespread concerns about the persistency of the bear market. What has triggered the continued downward trend of the oil market is the soaring output in the US. The largest oil importer, the US, is not importing as much as before due to the improvement in supplies from shale gas. According to Bloomberg, oil imports from Saudi Arabia have been down to around 670,000 bpd recently from the past 4-5 years’ imports of 1 million bpd, which needless to say pushed Middle Eastern oil suppliers to reduce their prices. The US is now facing the highest output of oil at around 9 million bpd in more than three decades. On top of this, OPEC has continued to ignore the calls to cut output so far while the economic outlook is not so strong, particularly in Asia and Europe. China and India are not growing as fast as before while the economies of Germany and France face stagnation or even contraction. OPEC, which meets around 40% of the world’s oil supply, is scheduled to discuss output policy at a meeting in Vienna on Nov 27. The group has not changed its target of 30 million bpd since January 2012. All eyes are on this meeting as players think that only a decision to reduce supplies may stop this downturn. This move should be led by the largest member of the group, Saudi Arabia, they argue. According to ChemOrbis, Brent crude also followed the losses of the US oil market with prices seeing as low as $82/bbl on Tuesday, the lowest settlement of the past four years.