The world’s woes look to be getting a whole lot worse, as Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s largest oil exporters and founding member of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is set to increase the prices of their crude oil.
Bloomberg found during an assessment of the state-owned Aramco, that the petroleum company may raise the price of their Arab Light crude by $5 a barrel in Asia.
Bloomberg added that price increase could apply as early as May 2022, with the next scheduled cargoes of oil.
The Russia-Ukraine war has exacerbated oil prices, but the increase for Arab Light is the highest spike in price since 2008.
Brent crude prices have managed to stabilize after the price peaked at $140 per barrel – the worst since 2008 – and is now trading again at $113 per barrel.
Demand for oil has decreased significantly and Russian oil demand has also dropped off. The decrease in demand is also affecting Asian oil suppliers like Japan and South Korea.
China and India, however, have committed to purchasing Russian oil, but in the meantime, Saudi Arabia would have an opportunity to fill the void.
China is currently in the midst of yet another covid outbreak and has imposed lockdowns, causing further strain on an already stretched supply chain. So the announcement that Armaco is raising prices, comes at a bad time for China, who will remain locked down due to their zero covid policy.
Energy consultants have already predicted that crude oil consumption will drop in China because of the lockdowns and because there is no end in sight, the situation will only get worse on this current trajectory.
Thirteen OPEC members are meeting with ten other oil-producing nations to set production policy for the group. OPEC members have however signaled that they see no need to adjust supply plans.
OPEC daily price of crude oil was $110.05 per barrel on March 29. The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) stood at $113.39 per barrel – close to the same price as Brent futures.
The ORB comprises 13 crude oil from different OPEC member countries, including: Algeria, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, a shale oil company, warned that bans on Russian oil could send crude prices to between $150 and $200.
“The only way to stop [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is to ban oil and gas exports. [But] if the western world announced that ‘we’re going to ban Russian oil and gas,’ oil is going to go [up] to $200 a barrel, probably – $150 to $200 easy,” he told the Financial Times in a March 4 interview.
F..K Joe Biden and the communist democrat party they have got to go now before it’s to late
Impeach Biden & Harris NOW!!!
dithering demoncrat dimwits tell us to “go buy an electric car. listen up morons. we do not have enough electricity, charging stations or battery-related resources for your “solution.”
When it comes to light that most electric power is still generated from the most beloved fossil fuel, coal – maybe it might seep into a few of the brain cells of those in denial, that there never really was an instant answer to this problem – like most others…