The Oil Wars Heat Up: Russia, Iraq Steal Saudi Market Share While Oman Blasts OPEC As “Irresponsible”

Last week, in the wake of S&P’s downgrade of Saudi Arabia and an IMF report which suggests that a number of Mid-East producers will be broke in five years if oil prices remain where they are today, we brought you, i) an in-depth look at Riyadh’s financial situation, and ii) a glimpse at where exporters stand in terms of breakeven prices and budget deficits. 

We encourage you to review the full account of the Saudis’ situation as Deutsche Bank does a nice job of illustrating what is becoming an exceptionally tenuous scenario, but we think it’s worth reposting the following two graphics here as they serve to underscore the deepening fiscal crisis: 

As for who’s hurting the worst, here’s Deutsche’s graphic on deficits in the world of “lower for longer”:

Note that Oman is among those stinging from the dramatic decline in prices. Well on Monday, the country’s oil minister Mohammed Bin Hamad Al Rumhy lashed out at OPEC for – and yes we’re going to use this analogy again – Plaxico’ing itself.Here’s WSJ with more: 

That would appear to be news to influential Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi, who earlier this year told CNBC that “no one can set the price of oil [because] it’s up to Allah.” Back to WSJ: 

Mr. Rumhy’s comments came at a conference in Abu Dhabi as he shared a stage with Suhail al Mazrouei, the United Arab Emirate’s top oil official, who is a top advocate of the producer group’s strategy. The remarks also reflect the pressure on OPEC from less wealthy members like Venezuela and Algeria to intervene with production cuts to raise prices, as crude oil trades for less than $50 a barrel—down from more than $100 a barrel in 2014.

On the same day, OPEC’s Persian Gulf producers unleashed a broad defense of their decision to pump full throttle to keep their share of the market, less than a month before the group’s next meeting to decide whether to maintain or cut production.

Mr. Mazrouei defended OPEC’s stance, arguing that production cuts would simply subsidize higher-cost producers in the U.S. and elsewhere.