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Le roi d'Arabie saoudite juge les cours du pétrole trop élevés

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Le roi Abdallah d'Arabie saoudite juge les cours actuels du pétrole trop élevés et estime nécessaire un retour à des niveaux de prix plus modérés, rapporte la chaîne de télévision indienne NDTV 24x7.

"Nous voulons renforcer les liens entre l'Inde et l'Arabie saoudite dans le domaine de l'énergie, ainsi que notre capacité à fournir de l'énergie à l'Inde sur le long terme. De notre point de vue, j'ai personnellement le sentiment que le prix actuel du pétrole est trop élevé", a déclaré le souverain lors d'un entretien accordé à la chaîne et enregistré à Ryad.

"Le prix nuit aux pays en développement, qui en subissent les conséquences. Le prix doit atteindre un niveau plus modéré."

Le roi Abdallah doit entamer mardi une visite officielle de quatre jours en Inde, la première d'un monarque saoudien en 50 ans.

Le cours du baril de brut léger américain a franchi vendredi le seuil des 69 dollars le baril, son plus haut niveau depuis septembre, en raison notamment des tensions créées par les ambitions nucléaires de l'Iran, l'un des principaux producteurs mondiaux.

L'Organisation des pays exportateurs de pétrole (Opep), dont l'Arabie saoudite est le membre le plus influent, a parallèlement annoncé que la demande mondiale de brut augmenterait de près de 2% cette année pour atteindre 84,8 millions de barils par jour.

Le cartel, qui se réunit à la fin du mois pour débattre de sa stratégie de production, ne devrait pas revoir ses quotas la baisse, en dépit de la volonté de l'Iran de réduire l'offre Opep, que Téhéran juge surabondante.

L'Inde, elle, estime que les pays développés n'exercent pas sur les grands producteurs de pétrole les pressions suffisantes pour les empêcher de faire monter les prix. Les propos du roi Abdallah devraient donc être bien accueillis à New Delhi.

Les relations entre l'Arabie saoudite et l'Inde, troisième économie d'Asie, habitée par une importante minorité musulmane, se sont améliorées progressivement depuis le début des années 1990.

Ryad cherche actuellement à renforcer ses liens économiques avec les puissantes émergentes de l'Asie que sont la Chine et l'Inde, deux pays dont les besoins énergétiques augmentent rapidement. L'économie indienne devrait croître de six à 7% par an au cours des dix ans à venir.

L'Arabie saoudite fournit près d'un quart des importations indiennes de pétrole brut, qui avoisinent 1,9 million de barils par jour. En 2004, New Delhi a acheté pour 6,2 milliards de dollars de pétrole saoudien.

Saudi Arabia retains oil power as Bush tries to break free

LONDON: US President George W Bush should be careful about wishing to kick America’s addiction to Middle East oil because he might just lose a trusted supplier. Oil superpower Saudi Arabia could be very happy to redirect barrels unwelcome in the United States into energy-hungry Asia, where Riyadh has made no secret of its drive to expand.

"It really doesn’t matter to us," said Nawaf Obaid, a Saudi oil adviser. "We can sell our oil anywhere." Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi chose his moment carefully to respond to Bush’s State of the Union pledge last week to cut US dependency on Middle East oil by 75 per cent by 2025.

"What concerns us is all the talk about not wanting our oil," Naimi told a high-profile energy conference in Houston, on the doorstep of the headquarters of the US arm of Saudi government-owned Saudi Aramco. "It’s not a major bump; it’s something to take into consideration."

Saudi officials have expressed surprise, but not concern, at the turnaround in former oilman Bush’s attitude towards the Kingdom, which for half a century has been a strategic partner. "Bush was playing to a very, very domestic agenda," said Valerie Marcel, energy expert at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. "It’s just rhetoric."

Bush faces pressure at home from a public increasingly unnerved by high petrol pump prices, huge profits for big oil firms, environmental concerns, and US reliance on a region perceived as unstable.

"The timing was linked more to the trouble the US administration is having with the domestic impact of high oil prices and the situation in Iraq rather than a deterioration of ties between Washington and the Arab World," said Jonathan Lindley of London’s Royal United Services Institute.

Political ties between Riyadh and Washington were badly damaged by the Sept 11, 2001 attacks carried out mainly by Saudis, but they have since recovered. Until last week, the US government had been urging Riyadh to pump more oil to try to bring down crude prices from near record levels.

And less than a year ago, Bush pleaded with then Crown Prince Abdullah to expand production and refining operations. In response, Saudi Arabia presented a $50 billion blueprint to boost its oil production and increase refining capacity across the world.

At the same time, it has subtly shifted its commercial focus to Asia, where explosive growth in China and India was largely responsible for last year’s record highs on the oil market. Now Saudi Arabia’s number one customer, Asia imports some 60 percent of its oil from the kingdom, while for the United States Mexico and Canada have taken over as lead suppliers, knocking Saudi into third place.

Saudi King Abdullah and Naimi have just wrapped up a tour of Asia, after which Naimi said he secured contracts to supply more crude to the region. Imported crude commands a premium on Asian markets, where refiners have historically been willing to pay extra to lock in supplies. "If we just sell oil to Asia, we would be able to sell at a higher price," said Obaid.

Regardless of where Saudi delivers its oil, it will always be the major influence on world markets because it is the only producer with significant spare capacity. "Obviously Saudi will still have a huge effect on the global price of oil. Saudi is the ultimate guarantor of prices," he said.

Saudi Arabia has further reason not to feel threatened by the US comments because most believe Bush’s 2025 goals are unachievable.

"Realistically, it is simply not feasible in any time period relevant to our discussion today," said Stuart McGill, senior vice president at Exxon Mobil , the world’s largest publicly-listed oil company. "Americans depend upon imports to fill the gap," McGill said on Tuesday, dismissing the idea the United States could ever be self-sufficient.

Fabrice Noilhan Chef de bureau approvisionnements internationaux en hydrocarbures MINEFI/DGEMP/DIREM lundi 20 févrirer 2006 a écrit :Concernant la production d'Arabie Saoudite :
l'Arabie Saoudite est le fournisseur "de dernier recours", et s'adapte donc au rythme de production des autres pays de l'OPEP. Il y a un assez grand consensus sur le fait qu'ils puissent produire au moins 10 millions de barils par jour s'ils le souhaitent (voire plus en comptant les condensats, qui ne sont pas compris dans les chiffres OPEP).

Saudi oil income to top $160billion

DUBAI (Reuters)
Saudi Arabia is expected to earn record oil revenues of nearly $160 billion this year, helping the world’s top oil exporter fast-track ambitious plans to expand its energy sector, economists say.
High oil prices have filled state coffers with petrodollars and given Saudi Arabia budget surpluses for three years running, after two decades of low prices left the government in the red.
Simon Williams of the Economist Intelligence Unit said the kingdom made an estimated $154 billion from oil sales in 2005 and that a small pick-up was expected in 2006 for oil export revenues to reach around $160 billion.
“They were record oil revenues, certainly for 2005, which were about double the average of the previous five years,” he said.
Williams said the 2006 revenue figure was based on an average price of just over $60 for London Brent crude with Saudi oil output of around 9.6 million barrels per day (bpd).
Al Rajhi bank, in a recent report, put Saudi oil exports at $157 billion in 2005 and forecast $155 billion for 2006.
Explosive demand growth in Asia and the United States sparked a four-year price rally and pushed oil above $60, prompting consumer governments to pile pressure on major oil producers to inflate the global supply cushion.
Saudi Arabia, Opec’s largest producer which holds the bulk of the group’s spare capacity, has launched a $50 billion plan to boost its production capacity to 12.5 million bpd by 2009 and maintain spare capacity of at least 1.5 million bpd.
The kingdom last week launched two multi-million-dollar upstream and downstream developments, part of the plan to raise crude production and refining capacity.
“They are in a very comfortable position with a lot of cash,” said Brad Bourland, chief economist at Samba Financial Group, predicting oil revenues of some $160 billion for 2006.
“Aramco’s capital expenditure budget has been bigger in recent years and that is likely to continue.” State oil firm Saudi Aramco has a separate budget for its operations than the state budget set by the finance ministry.

President Arroyo to visit Saudi Arabia to ensure steady oil supply

RIYADH: Philippine President Arroyo will visit Saudi Arabia next month for talks on oil and other economic links, a Philippine Embassy official said Saturday.

The visit will take place in early May and last around four days, but the exact date and details of the trip have yet to be finalized, the official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

Mrs. Arroyo had been due to visit the oil-rich kingdom, where nearly a million Filipinos live and work, last September, but the trip did not materialize.

Her chief aide said at the time she would be inquiring whether the Philippines and other smaller economies could secure “affordable” oil prices.

The embassy official said he was not aware if the President would seek any special oil deals, at a time when crude prices have reached record highs of more than $75 a barrel.

But he said Riyadh was a major oil supplier to Manila and the talks would deal with “overall economic relations,” including oil and investment opportunities, as well as issues related to Philippine expatriates in the Gulf country.

Mrs. Arroyo is expected to appeal for clemency for six Filipinos facing the death penalty on murder charges in Saudi Arabia, the official said.

They include Rey Cortez, a welder in a car repair shop who was sentenced to death in May 2002 for killing a Pakistani taxi driver.

Last June, Manila asked Saudi Arabia for mercy in the case.

Convicts on death row can be spared if their victim’s family accepts payment of compensation known as “blood money.”

In a separate case, the foreign department in Manila said Friday that seven Filipino workers detained in Saudi Arabia had confessed to murdering three missing compatriots in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

Saudi officials are trying to determine whether human body parts found in plastic bin liners south of Jeddah on April 4 belong to the missing Filipinos, Foreign Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said.

The seven suspects are among 52 Filipinos rounded up after the body parts were discovered. Manila is seeking the release of the 45 other detained Filipinos, Conejos said.
--AFP

Limites de la puissance pétrolière saoudienne

L'Arabie saoudite diminue les prix de l'essence à partir du 1er mai

2006-05-01 14:13:45

RYAD, 30 avril (XINHUA) -- Les prix de l'essence à la pompe en Arabie saoudite diminuent de plus de 30% à partir du 1er mai conformément à un décret signé par le roi Abdallah , a rapporté dimanche l'agence de presse officielle saoudienne SPA.

Le prix du litre d'essence est ramené de 0,90 rial (0,24 dollars) à 0,60 rial (0,17 dollars) le litre jusqu'en janvier 2007. Le prix du litre d'essence à indice d'octane élevé diminue de 25% à 0,75 rial (0,2 dollars). Quant au prix du diesel, il baisse de près de 35% à 0,25 rial (0,06 dollars).

Le décret indique que cette décision vise à "améliorer les conditions de vie des citoyens et pour le bien public". Fin

Ils vendent largement en dessous des cours mondiaux. Cela ne sent pas bon du tout ... En plus, cela va inciter au gaspillage.
attitude suicidaire.