Saudi Arabia Keeps Pumping… NY Times…

The NY Times does a great job today laying out Saudi Arabia’s conundrum:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/28/business/energy-environment/saudi-arabia-keeps-pumping-oil-despite-financial-and-political-risks.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

“But Mr. Bordoff and other analysts say that from a Saudi perspective this is not an opportune time to consider cuts. Not only is Iran’s re-entry on the global market expected to increase supplies, but Iraq has also been increasing production rapidly.

Still, though the Saudis are burning through their financial reserves, there is no danger of depleting them soon.

Because of that, Bhushan Bahree, an OPEC analyst at the energy consulting firm IHS Energy in Washington, expects the Saudis to stay the course.

If Saudi Arabia cuts production on its own, Mr. Bahree said, “What is next? Iran produces more; Iraq produces more. So what have they done? Pushed the price up temporarily but lost market share, which they may have difficulty recovering.””