Saudi Arabia plays hard ball, say no cut in oil output
January 22, 2016 11:00
Ever since global petroleum prices have plummeted to record levels -- it's a different matter that we in India have not benefited from it -- all eyes have been on Saudi Arabia to if the kingdom would curtail pumping out record levels of oil which has led to a global glut and the fall in the prices.
At Davos, however, the chief of oil giant Aramco Khalid Al-Falih has struck a combative pose, refusing to relent.
"We're not going to withdraw our production to make way for others. If other producers are willing to collaborate, Saudi Arabia is willing to collaborate. But Saudi Arabia will not accept the role, by itself, of balancing a structural imbalance," Al-Falih has been quoted as telling the World Economic Forum in The Telegraph, UK.
About the impact of the decline in oil prices on the kingdom itself -- Rediff contributor Rajeev Sharma wrote that it could even lead to a regime change, here -- Al-Falih said, "We can take whatever the market serves us. If prices stay low, we will be able to withstand it for a long time. We have the lowest cost of production on the planet by a big margin, and Saudi Aramco has zero debt on its balance sheet."
Al-Falih said Saudi output -- currently 10.3m barrels a day -- would be down to zero by now if the country had continuously trimmed to make way for others, reports the newspaper.
Read the full report here.
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