• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 23 mins GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 6 days If hydrogen is the answer, you're asking the wrong question
  • 11 hours How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy
  • 10 days Biden's $2 trillion Plan for Insfrastructure and Jobs

Breaking News:

Oil Prices Gain 2% on Tightening Supply

U.S. Oil, Gas Drilling Activity Slows

U.S. Oil, Gas Drilling Activity Slows

The total number of active…

China Buys Up Russian Oil

China Buys Up Russian Oil

China is on track to…

Nick Cunningham

Nick Cunningham

Nick Cunningham is an independent journalist, covering oil and gas, energy and environmental policy, and international politics. He is based in Portland, Oregon. 

More Info

Premium Content

The Countries Hit Hardest By The Oil Price War

Oil Price War

The recent plunge in oil prices has put the financially ravaged U.S. shale industry in the spotlight over the past week, but the market downturn will blow a hole in the budgets of oil-producing countries as well.

At the company level, the pressure is rapidly mounting. Spending cuts have been immediate, but the credit quality of the oil and gas industry is straining. S&P said that it was reviewing credit ratings of the energy sector. “We are not going to be as patient as we were before,” said Michael Grande, a senior director at S&P Global, according to the FT, referring to the last downturn five years ago. S&P suggested that Devon Energy and Hess Corp., for example, could lose investment-grade status.

Meanwhile, roughly $110 billion in energy debt sold by U.S. companies has slipped into distressed territory. Junk energy debt could receive “multiple notch downgrades,” Thomas Watters, a managing director at S&P Global, told investors on a call, according to the FT.

At the same time, much of the world’s oil production is extracted by national oil companies. Their governments depend on oil revenues for their budgets.

Credit ratings agency Fitch said that a wave of sovereign downgrades could be forthcoming if oil prices remain at low levels. “Countries that are in a somewhat vulnerable external position and have a fixed exchange rate are of course particularly vulnerable,” Jan Friederich, a Middle East and Africa sovereign analyst with Fitch, told Reuters.

Russia has stated that it can withstand oil prices in the range of $25 to $30 per barrel for six to ten years. Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak went further, declaring that Russian oil companies will remain competitive “at any forecast price level.” Russia has a few things working in its favor, such as a flexible exchange rate that allows oil firms to earn dollars but pay expenses in rubles. A declining oil price tends to be offset somewhat by a weaker local currency. Related: Oil Prices Rise As Trump Declares National Emergency Over Coronavirus Outbreak

In that context, Saudi Arabia is less flexible, needing to shell out foreign exchange to prop up its fixed exchange rate. The Saudi government can do that for a long time, but not forever. In addition, while Saudi Arabia has some of the lowest oil production costs on the planet, the budget requires oil prices in the mid-$80s per barrel to break even. Riyadh apparently believes it can force out high-cost producers before the pressure on its own finances becomes too great to bear.

But smaller oil-producing countries with fixed exchange rates could be in more trouble. Nigeria, for instance, does not have the deep pockets of Saudi Arabia. It too has to defend a fixed exchange rate, and during the last market downturn (2014-2016), the government imposed currency controls to stop the outflow of dollars. Today, only a week after the OPEC+ collapse, there are already signs of a shortage of dollars in Nigeria.

There are other countries at risk, including Iraq, Oman, Angola, Suriname and Gabon, according to Fitch. None of the Gulf Arab states can balance their budgets with oil at $40 per barrel or lower, according to S&P and Reuters.

Mexico’s Pemex may have shielded itself somewhat from a rather large hedging program, but the state-owned oil firm has been at the precipice of having its credit rating downgraded further for quite some time. Last year, Fitch put Pemex into junk territory, but additional downgrades would trigger even more capital flight. Mexico also has the unfortunate reality of having its economy depend on the U.S., which is about to go into a deep freeze of mass coronavirus quarantines. Related: Why 2030 Isn’t The Magic Year For Electric Vehicles

Canada has a more diversified economy, but is still staring down recession because of the oil price plunge. Alberta’s provincial government may turn back to mandatory production cuts to ensure a “survival price” for its industry, as Premier Jason Kenny put it. “Unfortunately, we do expect to see a number of layoff announcements in the next two to three weeks,” Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said on Wednesday. Canadian Prime Minister, under quarantine because his wife tested positive for the coronavirus, said on Friday that he will soon introduce an economic stimulus package.

And, of course, the U.S. itself is also a major oil producer, even as oil makes up a much smaller share of the economy relative to others. A recession for the U.S. economy seems highly plausible.

Ultimately, the longer the oil bust lingers, the more danger oil-producing countries will find themselves in.

ADVERTISEMENT

Investors have sold off $41.7 billion in emerging market stocks and bonds since late January when the coronavirus started to grow worse. The oil sell-off will compound this capital flight. “It is a very large number,” Robin Brooks, chief economist at the Institute of International Finance told the FT. “This means another big tightening in financial conditions for emerging markets, because that’s what outflows are, a sudden stop.”

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:


Download The Free Oilprice App Today

Back to homepage





Leave a comment
  • Mamdouh Salameh on March 15 2020 said:
    The biggest loser in the oil price war is the global economy particularly the oil-producing nations of the world and within the global economy the two biggest losers are Saudi Arabia and the US shale oil industry.

    Despite its bravado, Saudi Arabia can neither win a price war with Russia nor is able to flood the global oil market with oil as it did in 2014 in the aftermath of the oil price crash. Russia’s economy can live with an oil price of $25 a barrel for years compared with a price of $85 or even higher for Saudi Arabia.

    Moreover, Saudi Arabia has never ever had a production capacity of 12.5 million barrels a day (mbd) and will never ever achieve one. Its production peaked at 9.65 mbd in 2005 and has been in decline since. Saudi Arabia can at best produce some 8.0-9.0 mbd with another 700,000 barrels a day (b/d) to 1.0 mbd coming from storage. This is so because its current production is coming from five giant but aging and fast-depleting oilfields discovered more than 70 years ago.

    Without the influx of billions of dollars of oil money, projects that are considered vital for Vision 2030 for the diversification of the Saudi economy will be delayed or even shelved indefinitely. Moreover, the economy will not be able to create more than 6 million jobs needed to employ Saudi Arabia's youth. The economy could crash on the back of an oil price with a mushrooming budget deficit estimated at $100 bn.

    Analysts should also keep an eye on the share price slump of Saudi Aramco. A steep devaluation is a major threat, as Saudi citizens have been investing not only their own money but also borrowed money from banks to buy Aramco shares.

    The stability of Saudi Arabia depends on the Aramco IPO, Public Investment Fund projects and diversification. All can be linked directly and indirectly to OPEC+ and oil prices.

    The second biggest loser is the US shale oil industry. With a breakeven price of $70 a barrel and a well depletion rate of 70%-90% after first year production, low oil prices would for sure hasten the demise of US shale oil industry.

    Wouldn’t be better for Saudi Arabia to take a breath and consider mending fences with Russia since they both could calm the jittery in the global economy and maybe stop the oil prices sliding further perilously.

    Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
    International Oil Economist
    Visiting Professor of Energy Economics at ESCP Europe Business School, London
  • Seth D on March 16 2020 said:
    I think Nick Cunningham is the only OilPrice writer whose articles do not appear in RealClearEnergy, probably because his articles have crossed over into activism, and expressing the same faulty logic that shale is doomed and let me just keep repeating the same mantra day after day, year after year and maybe one year I may be right.

    Penn National Gaming and Performance Food Group are both down around 40% this month and I don't think either produces Shale.

    Mamdouh Salameh and Nick Cunningham like Batman and Robin.

Leave a comment




EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News