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Riyadh dancing in new oil market

Wood Mac: Saudi Arabia wooing Asian customers in shale era.

By Daniel J. Graeber

HOUSTON, March 30 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia is forced to react to changing crude oil market dynamics by offering discounts to its potential clients in Asia, Wood Mackenzie said Monday.

"Saudi Arabia had to cut its price in Asia to ensure its crude oil remained attractive to the region's refiners," Wood Mackenzie market analyst Sushant Gupta said in a statement Monday. "Hence, having competitive prices will be an important mechanism that Saudi Arabia would be adopting to secure its market share."

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A decision from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in November to keep production levels static helped push crude oil prices toward six-year lows. Even after King Abdullah died earlier this year, tacit OPEC leader Saudi Arabia vowed to maintain the status quo.

Mohammend al-Madi, the OPEC governor for Saudi Arabia, said during a recent energy conference in Riyadh it would be "difficult" for current markets to return to a scenario where oil priced about $100 per barrel was normal.

Prices recovered from near the $45 per barrel mark mid-January to above $60 per barrel, but have since pulled back to the mid-$50s for much of the month.

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The Sunni-led kingdom said it needed to protect its market share pressured by the glut of oil from shale reserves in the United States. A report from Wood Mackenzie finds Saudi crude oil represented 60 percent of the market share in 2006 and 65 percent in 2014.

With U.S. crude oil production close to a 40-year record, however, suppliers that would normally court the United States are looking to the booming Asian economy. Saudi Arabia, therefore, faces stiff competition from OPEC members and non-OPEC members alike.

"Clearly, it is important for Saudi Arabia to protect its market share in Asia," Gupta said. "However, competition has intensified and Asia now has more options to source crude oil supply."

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