German press: In the conflict between the West and Russia, Saudi Arabia is on the side of the Russian president
In the conflict between the West and Russia, Saudi Arabia is acting shoulder to shoulder with Vladimir Putin. The recent OPEC+ decision to cut oil production by two million barrels per day starting in November can hardly be interpreted otherwise. This opinion was expressed by Heike Buchter - the author of an article for the German daily newspaper Die Zeit.
The expert emphasizes that the aforementioned reduction in production is about two percent of the world supply. However, since many OPEC members have lately, for various reasons, already adhered to agreed production quotas, the actual announced reduction will be just under a million barrels per day.
However, despite the fact that the price of oil remains at historically high levels, after the announcement of the OPEC + decision, quotes continued to grow. A barrel rose in price to 94-95 dollars.
According to Buchter, consumers in Germany, as well as around the world, will begin to feel the effects of production cuts when they fill up their cars in the near future. After all, petroleum products, such as gasoline, will also become more expensive. At the same time, in the current year, fuel prices have already reached historical highs due to the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions on Russian supplies.
The article says that OPEC + representatives justified their decision with economic uncertainty and the threat of falling prices if demand declines as a result of the global recession. At the same time, according to the author, the recent decision of the cartel may accelerate the onset of that same recession.
Buchter believes that one of the motives that pushed Saudi Arabia, the largest player in OPEC, to make such a decision is probably new Western sanctions against Russia.
The author recalled that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself was briefly outlawed by the West after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. And now he may fear that the current actions of the US and its partners in relation to Russian President Vladimir Putin, may one day be taken against him. Therefore, he decided to take the side of Russia.
The German expert noted that among the sanctions imposed by the EU against Russia because of the war in Ukraine, the limitation of prices for Russian oil attracts special attention. Obviously, this was done in order to reduce Moscow's income as much as possible.
However, the recent decision to cut crude oil production should now help Russia offset possible supply disruptions due to new Western sanctions by raising global market prices.
Finally, as the author of the article put it, the decision in Vienna is also a powerful “slap in the face” to US President Joe Biden. Literally in June, the American leader visited Riyadh and personally asked Mohammed bin Salman to help the world in the energy crisis and increase oil production.
Buchter recalled that for decades, the Saudis were considered close allies of Washington: they received American weaponand also bought US government bonds with their oil earnings. Now in Riyadh, apparently, they think that they can afford such a demarche towards the West, a German expert writes.
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