Saudi Arabia Sets The Stage For Big OPEC Production Cuts

OPEC last week underlined that Asia’s continued strong economic growth would account for virtually all the growth in demand for oil this year. Saudi Aramco added that China and India will drive oil demand growth of more than 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in the period. Just prior to these two comments, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that OPEC and its allies are in “a state of readiness” amid a divergence between the physical and futures oil markets. These actions, he added, would be “precautionary…