Articles
-
OPEC Brings Oil Price War Home in Pursuit of Asia's Cash
When it comes to deciding how much to charge Asian oil buyers, OPEC members are showing little regard for tradition.
Suppliers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have long moved in lockstep, raising or lowering prices in tandem. Now, Kuwait is undercutting Saudi Arabia by the most on record and Iraq is also selling its oil more cheaply than the group’s biggest member. Qatar is pricing cargoes at the biggest discount in 27 months to competing crude from the U.A.E.’s Abu Dhabi.
While the group that accounts for about 40 percent of global oil supplies maintains a collective strategy of flooding the market with crude, the semblance of unity has vanished when setting monthly selling prices. With Asia forecast to account for most of the growth in global oil demand this year, competition for the region’s buyers is trumping historical allegiances.
“It’s a full-on fight for market share within OPEC,” said Virendra Chauhan, a Singapore-based analyst at industry consultant Energy Aspects Ltd. “That’s even as the group tries to fend off a rise in non-OPEC production from countries such as Russia, Brazil and the U.S.”
The battleground is the Asia-Pacific region, which will account for about 34 percent of global oil demand in 2015, according to the latest monthly report by the International Energy Agency. China alone will be responsible for more than a quarter of consumption growth next year, the Paris-based group forecasts. The nation is importing near record amounts as it takes advantage of low prices to fill its stockpiles.
Kuwait’s official price for its Export Blend crude to Asia was a record 65 cents cheaper than Saudi Arabia’s similar-quality Arab Medium crude in October and 60 cents for November. The difference has widened from 40 cents at the beginning of 2014.
Read full article
-
Authorized Person for MEX NEPAL
Mob: +977 9856030634 -
Biratnagar Branch Manager
Mob: +977 9852033934 -
Our Clearing Member
-
Our Banking Partners
-
-
-
