23 Mar 2015
Saudi Minister’s comments negative for Oil – Malcolm Graham-Wood
FXStreet (Barcelona) - Independent Analyst, Malcolm Graham-Wood, comments on the key developments in the oil market – Saudi Minister Ali al-Naimi’s comments, and China’s 10.8%yoy increase in oil imports.
Key Quotes
“Saudi Minister Ali al-Naimi made some interesting comments at the weekend, none of which will help the price pick up at the moment. Suggesting that non-Opec countries ‘insisted’ that Opec carried the burden, he said that the cartel would refuse to bear that responsibility, going on to say that Opec only amounted to 30% of world oil production and the 70% must participate if they want to increase prices.”
“All that sounds eminently sensible making it likely that the Opec meeting in June will be a short one.”
“Finally, China confirmed my comments from last week that they had indeed upped their oil imports in February. At 25.55m tons, an increase of 10.8% y/y, it was a strong figure without being game changing but may have accounted for some of the price strength during the month.”
Key Quotes
“Saudi Minister Ali al-Naimi made some interesting comments at the weekend, none of which will help the price pick up at the moment. Suggesting that non-Opec countries ‘insisted’ that Opec carried the burden, he said that the cartel would refuse to bear that responsibility, going on to say that Opec only amounted to 30% of world oil production and the 70% must participate if they want to increase prices.”
“All that sounds eminently sensible making it likely that the Opec meeting in June will be a short one.”
“Finally, China confirmed my comments from last week that they had indeed upped their oil imports in February. At 25.55m tons, an increase of 10.8% y/y, it was a strong figure without being game changing but may have accounted for some of the price strength during the month.”