Saudi oil minister out with comments to try and prop up oil prices
- What happened to oil market was political, macroeconomic and speculative trading
- Says that inventories are drawing down by the end of Q1 2019
- Says all OPEC countries are committed to cuts of 3%
- Says that non-OPEC have committed to cuts of 2%, including Russia
- Says that there are a lot of speculative money affecting energy prices
- Remains focused on fundamentals, says will achieve balance between supply and demand next year
- Says that OPEC+ decision is very balanced, measured and very strong; inventories have already started to go down in the last few weeks
In case you're new, the comments here aren't anything out of the ordinary to come from Saudi Arabia or OPEC - which is mainly equivalent to a Saudi-led gang anyway. Whenever prices go up, they will attribute it to fundamentals prevailing. And whenever prices fall, they will attribute it to speculative movements.
Seeing that Al-Falih sees the need to come up with the above supportive comments, it's clear that someone isn't too happy about oil prices slipping below $50.
