Saudi Arabia

1 - Saudi It looks as if US President Trump is trying to support the narrative that the Khashoggi assassination was a rogue interrogation gone wrong, allowing the Saudi government to escape sanction. But condemnation is so widespread, it's…

1 - Saudi The foreign policy crisis around Saudi Arabia's alleged assassination in Turkey of a dissident US-resident journalist is dominating headlines. As is often true, it's not clear where Trump stands on the issue. And given the…

$200 oil was not on any list of probable outcomes I've seen or considered recently. I think it's fair to say that $200 oil - if it were to happen - would be a black swan event. And it would usher in a massive global economic contraction…

Bloomberg oil analyst Javier Blas reported earlier today that Saudi Arabia has told OPEC that it lifted oil production in February, despite the ongoing OPEC production cut agreement with Russia.

As Brent crude hits 11-year lows, it’s worth thinking about why it is so low and what the likely outcomes will be. Warren Mosler has a view I think works regarding the Saudis as swing producer, targeting quantity instead of price and I want…

A number of stories over the past week that I don’t have a full analysis for are interesting enough that I want to mention them in a potpourri post of market news. I don’t have a view on all of these stories but I do think these are some of…

A month ago, I wrote a piece on zero rates, resource misallocation, and shale oil that warned of the potential negative impact that low oil prices could have on the funding for shale drillers and the potential contagion this drying up in…

US elections Just to follow up on yesterday’s two posts, exit polling data from Tuesday confirm what I was saying about disenchantment with the U.S. economy despite the positive headlines. 58% of those casting ballots said they were…

The following note from Gulf News reinforces the concept that high population growth in the Middle East will slow the amount of oil available for export. I believe the consequences are higher prices.

When oil prices start to decline, investors and economists get worried. Oil prices in large part reflect global sentiment towards our economic future - prosperous, growing economies need more oil while slumping, shrinking economies need…