Looking forward to lower oil prices

For more than five years now, Saudi Arabia — the world’s largest oil exporter and the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus (Opec+) kingpin — has been striving to balance the global oil demand and supply by controlling output. Riyadh has been at the forefront of this effort and has been shouldering the major weight of the Opec+ output cut mechanism. In recent months, Opec+ cut its crude oil output by over five million barrels, some five per cent of the global supply. Saudi Arabia was contributing two-fifths of this output cut. The effort, aimed at propping up the global oil market prices, was essential to meet the ever-growing budgetary requirements of major oil producers, Saudi Arabia included. Most Opec economies are often termed as single-product economies, with oil earnings staying crucial to meeting the needs of these petro-states.