Saudi Arabia

Nations representing almost 60%of the world’s oil production will gather in Doha on April 17 to discuss "freezing their output at January levels" in an effort to stabilize prices. According to Bloomberg, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela made a preliminary deal in February and are seeking to add more producers and extend the recent price recovery, but, despite the exuberant squeeze early this week, oil prices are fading modestly as D(oha)-Day looms.

While the algos are focusing on where the next "OPEC freeze" headline (and subsequent rejection) will come from, Saudi Arabia is quietly creating a new alliance among the U.S. "reject" nations in the region.

Earlier today, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on Tuesday. After an official welcoming ceremony, Erdogan presented the order of the State of the Republic of Turkey to the Saudi monarch. It is the Saudi king's first visit to Turkey since ascending the throne early last year.

From one haircut (that of Heta senior creditors) we go to another.

When it comes to its human rights record, U.S. ally Saudi Arabia manages to avoid the mainstream media even though, as we reported recently, just in January, Saudi Arabia executed 47 people - its largest mass execution since 1980. Some were convicted terrorists, but others were political activists. Footage smuggled out by activists has revealed that the executions sparked the largest public protests since the Arab Spring.

Here is another, just as striking, example of Saudi "tolerance."

Government officials, members of Congress, and 9/11 victims are demanding that the government declassify a top-secret 28-page report that potentially spills the beans on Saudi Arabia’s role in the 2001 attacks.  Bob Graham, the former Florida governor, Democratic U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, says that the public deserve to know the truth about the extent of Saudi’s role in the 9/11 atrocities.

Submitted by Rakesh Upadhyay via OilPrice.com,

The actions and intentions of Saudi Arabia and Russia - the two largest oil-producing nations attending the Doha meeting on 17 April - have dashed all hopes of any fruitful outcome. The most important meeting of the last three decades, which has promised to forge new friendships and a new cartel, is turning out to be the biggest farce, even before the curtain is raised.