Virus Onslaught Deepens Gulf Disquiet Over Saudi Oil-Price War - Bloomberg:
Saudi Arabia’s oil-price war with fellow exporting giant Russia bewildered the kingdom’s Gulf allies, unexpectedly shattering their fiscal defenses just when they’re most needed to combat the coronavirus.
The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, along with smaller neighbors, want a return to talks among the OPEC+ cabal of oil powers but the central protagonists, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are digging in.
As the pandemic shuts down major chunks of the global economy, that posture is helping to drive oil even lower, to below $10 in the physical market, sharply curtailing fire-power in Gulf economies still struggling to recover from the last oil price plunge in 2014.
Three officials with a deep knowledge of oil policy in the region, as well as industry insiders, described the Saudi decision early this month to cut prices and lift production as Saudi-driven and unnerving for its partners, who felt compelled to fall in line and have had to push the issue to one side as they focus on the wider problems posed by the virus.
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