Haaretz: Saudi Arabia's oil victory over Russians turns out to be Pyrrhic

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The victory of Saudi Arabia over the Russians in the “price war” is likely to become a pyrrhic one, according to the oldest Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Yes, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman finally forced Russia to achieve the reduction in production that he wanted - the Russians lost even more than originally planned.



But according to the results of all the manipulations, the prince got a market in which there is literally no place to store all the oil extracted. The new plan to stifle the American "shale" oil industry with low prices failed miserably - like the previous such attempt in 2014. At the same time, according to the results of the last war, prices did not return to their original prices - and the prince could at least learn from recent experience. But that did not happen.

Saudi Arabia itself can no longer engage in such games with the price of hydrocarbons. Yes, the kingdom has a low cost of oil production, but it also has large financial obligations - and even larger than it seems initially, as Prince Muhammad began implementing his Vision 2030 plan, aimed at diversification economics.

According to Fitch Ratings, the breakeven point for the kingdom, that is, the minimum price of oil that it needs, to cover costs this year will be $ 91 per barrel. But no one expects the price to come close to similar values ​​in the near future.

Since 2014, Saudi reserves have declined from $ 740 to $ 500 billion. She cut subsidies to her citizens, who were accustomed to the seemingly limitless generosity of the state, and now began to borrow money abroad. A new round of budget cuts is just around the corner.

Saudi Arabia does not have the money to buy off social discontent, as it was in the past. All the means that are available will go to mitigate the impact of the economic impact of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the Crown Prince’s plans to turn his country into a global center of technologies and tourism as part of the long-term vision of Vision 2030 is now virtually doomed to failure. The treasury of the kingdom is too scarce to undermine it with long-term injections into the cities of the future, and the foreign investments that the prince was counting on did not rush into the project even before the pandemic.

On almost any front - the war with Yemen, the campaign to isolate Qatar, the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and now in the battle for black gold prices - Muhammad bin Salman has shown himself not too brilliantly, writes Haaretz.

The Vision 2030 project was the only thing that promised the country real strategic leadership. But other senior management errors now reset him.

According to the publication, the opinion is expressed that Saudi Arabia by 2030 will not be Silicon Valley and the Cote d'Azur of the Middle East, but just an oil producer fighting for its own survival.
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16 comments
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  1. -1
    April 18 2020 06: 58
    The Vision 2030 project is a sensible undertaking, but Muslims are not able to implement it on their own, even having huge funds, they cannot do without clever Jewish heads. So the Saudis are secretly establishing relations with the Israelis, they understand that if they continue to live stupidly with oil money, then in the foreseeable future they will switch from Mercedes and Ferrari to camels, and they will return to their grandfather's tents ...
    1. GRF
      +3
      April 18 2020 10: 06
      Until the time when freestanding, bloody gold flowed from Europe to India, America, and the rest of the world, Arab scholars were even and even more enlightened than European scientists, but even now, judging by the mortality from the same unknown disease, progressive Western scholars do not really shine. Camel for me, much more perfect Ferrari, it is a pity that people do not appreciate the free ...
      As for the establishment of relations, then leave the hungry West from the East - and the world will come much earlier.
      But when the Jews declare victory of Russia that didn’t appear at the war over Ukraine - I’m looking, they are talents in this ...
      1. -2
        April 18 2020 17: 51
        Quote: GRF
        Arab scholars were on a par, or even more enlightened than European

        You mistakenly attribute to the Arabs major scientific achievements in the era of Islamic expansion. The reason for the flourishing of sciences was that, capturing countries and peoples, forcibly converting the vanquished to Islam, Arabs also appropriated the achievements of ancient cultures - Egypt, Byzantium, Persia, etc., however, having mastered the experience of scholars of the past, Muslims could not move on, hopelessly behind the Europeans.
        1. GRF
          +3
          April 18 2020 19: 00
          After the destruction and plundering of museums, libraries, monuments and just people, from the Crusades to "democratic" embeddings in the Stone Age - who could have developed further?
          I looked at the ratings of universities, of course, this is about nothing, but still:

          Lomonosov Moscow University - Place 94
          King Saud University - Rank 191
          Kiev Shevchenko University - place 491
          Baghdad University - Rank 717

          They have scientists, many of them work in the West, and the fact that they are not often awarded "Nobel Prizes" is nonsense. Give them peace and there won't be any hopeless lag, but that's why they won't be given it ...
          1. -3
            April 18 2020 20: 04
            As for the destruction, plunder and other indecencies - by. If Muslims were more developed and organized, there would be no one left in the world in general except them. And those immigrants from Islamic countries who successfully work in the West, therefore, were able to succeed because they had virtually ceased to be Muslims, their mentality was changed. Well, those who have not changed - work as janitors or sit on benefits. Islamic principles are a major brake on the followers of the Prophet.
  2. -7
    April 18 2020 07: 13
    Haaretz: Saudi Arabia's oil victory over Russians turns out to be Pyrrhic

    It will turn out. It will turn out. Breathe deeply. Oh, how many victorious releases we heard and read a couple of months ago. When the "cunning plan" to kill American shale oil was carried out by our "irreplaceable leaders". laughing
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  3. 123
    +6
    April 18 2020 09: 19
    Oh, that ornate Middle Eastern speech. laughing
    It’s so subtle to make nice to your overseas patrons. winked
    Putin knew the bitterness of defeat, fully realized what the anger of hairy men in white pajamas means. sad But since their victory is actually Pyrrhic, the conclusion is obvious: the eternally chewing guys in sombrero remained the real winners. It doesn't matter that they cut back on production, shut down wells, and fire people. The plan to destroy the shale rocking ground failed miserably and that’s it, don’t even try to argue. laughing
    True, for some reason the fanfare in the camp of the winners is not audible, but something like that.
    A "water truce" has come, but everyone is trying to declare themselves the winner after the battle. The situation is not new and has a long tradition.
    1. -8
      April 18 2020 09: 32
      123 (123) I just put it to you plus? laughing drinks
      1. 123
        0
        April 18 2020 09: 38
        You did it in vain. laughing I mean, you can bet anything and anyone, but voiced in vain. Yes You are now under the "gun", you will get rid of it more than once. Yes The herd will not forget you. winked
  4. -3
    April 18 2020 09: 30
    And he said that now fans will rush to prove that Russia did it all, and not signed the surrender in the oil war. Yes, it’s violet to me, like there in Saudi Arabia !!! You write to me how good it is in Russia after the signed surrender. Or should I be glad that Sechin, Miller and the like saved their salaries of 2-3 million rubles a day?
    1. -6
      April 18 2020 10: 05
      steelworker, yes, Putin signed the surrender. Arabs avenged him for gossip and conceit. The Saudis will manage with those crumbs of oil that they will sell, but will we manage? With our spending on space, nuclear weapons, the maintenance of the bureaucracy ... Kudrin is already hinting at the withdrawal of deposits from Sberbank for the needs of the state and our future in the fog.
      1. +2
        April 18 2020 15: 10
        Rashkafso, oil goes, put away !!!
        And Kudrin always dreamed of putting Sberbank money into prizes. But no one offers premiership a second time. Sadness ...
      2. 123
        +1
        April 18 2020 15: 33
        ser.rudov2016 (Sergey Rudov)
        Your future is definitely vague, the rest is not a fact. No.
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    1. 0
      April 18 2020 18: 15
      How can you think "in chorus and crowd"? The process of thinking arises in each individual person and is purely individual, otherwise it is not a process of thinking. Either you endow the kingdom of troglodytes with a function that is deeply alien to them, or you are deeply mistaken in something.
  6. +5
    April 18 2020 18: 36
    A new plan to stifle the American "shale" oil industry with low prices failed miserably ...

    And what, oil prices have risen, at least, to $ 50? Something did not notice. Or will Haaretz talk about how shale oil will exist at prices 2 times lower than cost?
    And Vision 2030 was initially doubtful, and now even more so. The tourism industry in the world, in the form to which we are accustomed, will order a long life (in fact, it has already begun) and will not recover in the next 30 years. And the climate there, to put it mildly, is not for everyone. Not to mention orthodox Islam. Those who want to relax in such a climate are already in Dubai, the UAE. And then, while there is money, that is, for a short time.
    As for technology, they don’t have their brains, and strangers will soon be behind the iron curtain. Here the people, basically, do not know or do not remember what it is. Well, soon to find out.
    There is another subtlety. KSA reserves, as I recall, are largely located in the United States. In the near future (less than a year) the US will forgive everyone its debts. In one form or another. And these heirs of the whole king will remain naked and barefoot. There, the USA is already going to write off its debts to China. So this is China, a country with missiles and a fleet. And what is KSA? What will the US do?
    Here is a phrase from Kissinger’s latest interview:

    When the Covid-19 pandemic ends, many countries will be sentenced: “You failed. ” How fair this sentence is, does not matter. The main thing is this: the world will never again be the same as before the coronavirus.

    Did you understand? 3–5 countries will gather and decide who will exist in what form. And do not care about the laws. The opinion of other countries no one asks.
    A pandemic is simply a cover for reformatting the world and world order.
    And the princes on camels will cut through the desert. Both palaces and oil will be taken away. Moreover, the United States will not be taken away at all. At that moment, their hands would not reach them.
    As for the text, I got the impression that Marzhecki moved to work at Haaretz. I sincerely congratulate him.
  7. -3
    April 19 2020 00: 17
    It seems to be just recently written that this is a victory for Russia?
  8. 69
    +1
    April 19 2020 09: 29
    Quote: Bindyuzhnik
    The reason for the flourishing of sciences was that, capturing countries and peoples, forcibly converting the vanquished to Islam, Arabs also appropriated the achievements of ancient cultures - Egypt, Byzantium, Persia, etc.

    It is completely unnecessary to ascribe the "exploits" of the Zionists to other peoples, pretending to be rags.