Saudi Arabia

In addition to creating mass chaos in America's airports and general confusion around the world, Trump's immigration ban is putting Saudi Arabia, a key ally in the middle-east, in a fairly awkward position.  Per the Wall Street Journal, Trump's immigration ban, which currently does not include Saudi Arabia, has put the country in the awkward position of having to manage a desire to pursue stronger ties with the U.S. at the risk of alienating key allies, like Yemen and Sudan, that will inevitably view such a move as abandoning Muslim neighbors.

After Sunday's latest meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC countries in Vienna, energy ministers struck an optimistic note regarding the recent agreement to cut oil output as a committee set to monitor compliance with the deal meets for the first time. Oil producers said they are in "total agreement" on the mechanism for monitoring pledged output cuts, Kuwait Oil Minister Essam Al-Marzouk told reporters after the committee ended its meeting in Vienna.

Submitted by Gregory Brew via OilPrice.com,

Last April, in a move that led to widespread public outrage, the Egyptian government revealed that it had signed maritime demarcation accords that put the islands of Tiran and Sanafir in Saudi waters, in the process handing over the two islands to the Saudi kingdom, a transfer that was widely perceived as a behind the scenes gift from the Egyptian president to the Saudi regime.

Despite earlier comments that the Saudis did not appear to have implemented their output cut (as per OPEC agreement), WSJ reports that Saudi Arabia cut oil output - fully implementing OPEC cut pledge. Oil is bouncing on the news.

From this morning - no cut!:

 Saudi Arabia crude supplies have been abundant and doesn’t look to be cutting, Takashi Hirose, Executive Vice President at TonenGeneral, says in Tokyo on Thursday.

And now - Fully cut...