Saudi Arabia

Submitted by Dwayne Purvis via OilPrice.com,

Props to Saudi Arabia. Unlike other producers, including U.S. shale producers, it maintained financial strength and flexibility during the last boom. When it began to shift the paradigm of global supply, the kingdom was explicit about its goal - market share - even if it didn’t always trumpet the proactive steps it was taking towards that goal. The now-evident objective of low prices, having been achieved and sustained, begs the question of why Saudi Arabia defended its market share.

For the first time since January 2009, 12-month Saudi interbank rates have breached 2.00% - double the 1% lows of August.

This 'stress' is also evident in the record pace of collapse of Saudi money-supply.

 While Riyal forwards have rallied back from extreme bets on devaluation, they remain concerning for Saudi officials who to undertake some deep and fundamental changes to their economy, reforms that no amount of browbeating from organizations like the IMF could induce.

GOP front-runner Donald Trump said he “would consider” halting all American purchases of oil from Saudi Arabia unless the Saudi government starts providing military troops to combat ISIS Reuters reports: Trump’s comment on Friday was included in a lengthy foreign policy interview published by the newspaper on Saturday and came in response to a question about whether, if elected president, he would halt oil purchases from U.S. allies unless they provided on-the-ground forces against Islamic State. “The answer is, probably yes,” Trump said, according to a transcript.

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump claims that Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states should pay protection money to the U.S. for their military support against the Islamic State. He said that the US  could stop purchasing their oil unless they reimbursed Washington for its military efforts against ISIS or send ground troops to join the fight. The Republican front-runner for the White House gave a foreign policy interview to the New York Times, saying US presidents should have “gone to the beach” instead of meddling in the Middle East.

To mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the Saudi-led war on Yemen, The Wall Street Journal obligingly gave the Saudi ambassador a platform to repeat his government’s propaganda: