Saudi Arabia Energy

Ongoing talks to reduce the global supply of oil in an attempt to raise prices have so far yielded only preliminary agreements, with Saudi Arabia and other major oil-producing nations historically unwilling to reduce their exports. However, with oil prices falling from $115 per barrel for Brent crude in June 2014 to a low of $28.50 in late...

The drop in the price of oil since mid-2014 has had a significant impact on Saudi Arabia, which relies on oil for the vast majority of its fiscal revenue – 73% by some estimates – and for around 40% of its GDP. While global demand remains high, the increasing supply of oil on the international market, much of which is coming from Russia, US...

Although gas production increased by more than 70% between 2003 and 2013 according to BP figures, harnessing its potential presents a number of challenges. Saudi Arabia has no plans to export gas, seeing it as feedstock for local power, desalination and petrochemical plants in order to free up more oil for export.

Production from Saudi Arabia’s oilfields will remain at near-record levels in the short to medium term, with Riyadh looking to maintain above-average output despite low prices. At its June 2015 meeting, OPEC decided to keep the bloc’s production at 30m barrels per day (bpd), the level that had been agreed the previous November. According to...

The drop in global oil prices in the second half of 2014 thrust Saudi Arabia’s energy sector into the spotlight, but the consequences for the Kingdom vary significantly depending on whether they are measured in terms of production, price or perception.

When OPEC’s member states announced that their crude oil production target would remain at 30m barrels per day (bpd) at a meeting in Vienna on November 28, 2014, Saudi Arabia was accused of waging a price war to preserve market share. The implication was that the country wanted to see the price of Brent crude fall so low that drillers in the...