Responding to Russia's
face-slap on Friday, Saudi Arabia
launched an all-out oil price war on Saturday. The world's
No.2 oil producer (following the U.S.) slashed pricing for its crude in an effort to push as many barrels into the market as possible.
The cuts are an indication of how the Saudis will respond to the break up of the alliance between OPEC and partners like Russia. OPEC talks Friday ended in dramatic failure, as Saudi Arabia failed to get Russia to agree to a prolonged production cut.
Today (Saturday), Saudi Aramco, the Saudi state producer, lowered April pricing for crude sales to Asia by $4-6 a barrel and to the U.S. by $7 a barrel, launching a full-out war.
In February, Saudi Arabia produced 9.7M b/d. But with the agreement on cuts expiring at the end of the March, it can pump as much oil as it wants; it claims it can produce as much as 12.5 million barrels per day. SA