New Saudi Oil Minister, Old Saudi Oil Policy

EM PM, Ecstrat

Emad Mostaque

EM PM

Ecstrat

Ecstrat is a consultancy advising on asset allocation between global equity markets, with a focus on the intersection of governments, geopolitics, governance and markets.
 
Over the past few years and more especially since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC), investors have become more focused on short-term market movements and real-time returns and have consequently neglected the analysis of the underlying structural themes that underpin longer term performance.
​
More specifically we believe that the evolution of governance-based relationships between investors, controlling shareholders, labour and the state is one of the primary determinants of both relative and absolute performance between individual equity markets.
 
We will endeavour to provide investors with some of the context surrounding governance-related issues which encompass many different disciplines including history, economics and political science, as well as the financial metrics which are the most obvious manifestation of the structural characteristics of each market.
 
We will pay particular attention to the shifts and potential inflection points for governance in individual markets as these are often the best lead indicators for both economic and market performance.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Brazil Energy / Thematic (Sector/Industry)

In May we noted that Saudi was likely to pursue a production maximisation policy for 6 months, with a freeze or cuts likely as we head into winter.This appears to have been prescient as OPEC yesterday announced that OPEC-14 production levels would be capped at 32.5-33mbpd, a slight decrease over the levels achieved over summer and back at Doha talks levels.However, detail is lacking on the proposal and there is strong reason to doubt potential enforceability of any agreement, with oil jumping but still being flat month on month as a result.This piece explores some of these issues and potential market action.

In May we noted that Saudi was likely to pursue a production maximisation policy for 6 months, with a freeze or cuts likely as we head into winter.This appears to have been prescient as OPEC yesterday announced that OPEC-14 production levels would be capped at 32.5-33mbpd, a slight decrease over the levels achieved over summer and back at Doha talks levels.However, detail is lacking on the proposal and there is strong reason to doubt potential enforceability of any agreement, with oil jumping but still being flat month on month as a result.This piece explores some of these issues and potential market action.

Can OPEC Cut Production