Oil Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia and Texaco Inc. signed a $1.8-billion deal Thursday creating a joint venture to refine, distribute and market oil products in 23 American states. The deal gives Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest crude oil exporter, access to the largest oil market in the world and is a major step toward integrating its operations from the well to the gas pump.

Leading OPEC producer Saudi Arabia called for hefty supply curbs when the cartel meets this month to prevent a further slide in world oil prices. A Saudi official said that Riyadh believed the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries needs to cut production by 1.5 million barrels a day to keep crude near $25 a barrel.

The impending return of Iraq and Kuwait to world oil markets has strained relations among OPEC members, prompting Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, reportedly threatening to leave the oil cartel. Saudi Arabia--OPEC's biggest producer--declared this week that the kingdom would produce 8.5 million barrels a day for the rest of the year, regardless of whether Iraq resumes exports.

Saudis Favor OPEC Quota Freeze: Saudi Arabia threw its weight behind a new freeze on OPEC supply quotas to boost sagging world oil prices. The linchpin of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries also expressed displeasure on the eve of OPEC talks in Vienna over alleged quota violations by some cartel members. Persian Gulf sources said Saudi Arabia saw a freeze on the current OPEC ceiling of 24.52 million barrels daily for at least six months as a way to raise prices.

As oil producers across the world nervously watch the price of oil slide below $20 a barrel, Saudi Arabia continues to prepare the ground to ensure that it will be the victor in any oil price war. According to oil industry specialists, the strategy is being guided by Oil Minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani, who repeatedly warned last year that, if oil producers failed to cooperate in reining in output, an oil price war would inevitably result.

King Fahd canceled a plan Tuesday that would have dimmed his realm's luster for foreigners by taking away up to 30% of their untaxed, and often fat, paychecks. Many in the large foreign colony, which includes 30,000 Americans, had thought seriously of leaving since the plan for taxing foreigners was announced Sunday. On Tuesday, the official Saudi Press Agency, quoting an unidentified "responsible source," said the king decided that the income tax "was shown to need revision."

In a move that furthers a 15-year effort to reduce the role of U.S. oil companies in its oil industry, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday said that it has decided to establish a state oil company. The official Saudi Press Agency said the Saudi Cabinet had decided to set up the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., but gave few details. The new state company will apparently take formal control of the kingdom's vast oil industry from the Arabian American Oil Co., Aramco, a consortium formerly owned by four major U.S.

Supertankers idled by the Persian Gulf crisis are finally heading for new destinations as other oil producers boost exports to offset the shortfall from Iraq and Kuwait. Shipping sources said Wednesday that the fleet of tankers waiting in the Gulf of Oman is thinning as Saudi Arabia and its gulf allies pump more oil.

Saudi Arabia, already blessed with the world's largest reserves of crude oil, declared Monday that a new computer assessment shows it has about 50% more crude oil and 25% more natural gas than previously believed. If correct, the new Saudi numbers would boost by about 10% the free world's proven reserves of crude oil to the 900-billion-barrel range. This would tend to prolong the oil era and underscore the reliance of industrialized nations on the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia has agreed to provide Jordan with half its daily oil needs, Jordanian officials said Wednesday, in a move that observers said is aimed at weaning Jordan from its reluctance to apply a U.N. trade embargo against Iraq. The provision of oil would help cushion some of the cost for Jordan of enforcing an embargo against Iraq, which invaded Kuwait three weeks ago. For the past decade, Jordan has received 90% of its crude from Iraq.

Saudi Arabia Slashes Public Spending: Saudi Arabia, the world's largest exporter of crude oil, has announced it will cut public spending in 1994 to make up for losses in revenue caused by weakening crude prices. King Fahd projected government spending in 1994 at $42.6 billion, down from $52.5 billion set for 1993. "The world economic conditions and surplus oil supplies have affected prices and imports from our country, so the (oil) prices dropped," Fahd said.

OPEC Agrees to Production Cap: Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, came under pressure to freeze its crude oil production after ministers of the 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said they will limit oil production to 24.5 million barrels a day over the next three months. The move, an attempt to drive up prices, will hold output to current levels as winter begins in Europe and North America.

OPEC got close to a deal Friday that would cut oil output for the spring, but Saudi Arabia backed out late in the afternoon, according to sources at the cartel's contentious meeting. The sources, who spoke on condition they not be named, said Saudi Oil Minister Hisham Nazir told other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that Saudi Arabia had a series of proposals for slashing oil output.

The impending return of Iraq and Kuwait to world oil markets has strained relations among OPEC members, prompting Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, reportedly threatening to leave the oil cartel. Saudi Arabia--OPEC's biggest producer--declared this week that the kingdom would produce 8.5 million barrels a day for the rest of the year, regardless of whether Iraq resumes exports.

The surge in oil production that Saudi Arabia embarked on to fill the gap left by Iraq and Kuwait could break the kingdom's decade-long deficit, pay off all war costs and leave Riyadh with surplus cash by 1994, independent economists say. The cash windfall could also translate into political clout, since Saudi Arabia is determined to boost its military power, which would cost tens of billions of dollars.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries reached agreement Tuesday to modestly restrain oil production, and world oil markets promptly drove up the price of oil by 69 cents a barrel. OPEC's majority, with Saudi Arabia showing the way, set a production ceiling of 22.3 million barrels a day for the three months beginning April 1.

Saudis Favor OPEC Quota Freeze: Saudi Arabia threw its weight behind a new freeze on OPEC supply quotas to boost sagging world oil prices. The linchpin of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries also expressed displeasure on the eve of OPEC talks in Vienna over alleged quota violations by some cartel members. Persian Gulf sources said Saudi Arabia saw a freeze on the current OPEC ceiling of 24.52 million barrels daily for at least six months as a way to raise prices.

Saudi Arabia Slashes Public Spending: Saudi Arabia, the world's largest exporter of crude oil, has announced it will cut public spending in 1994 to make up for losses in revenue caused by weakening crude prices. King Fahd projected government spending in 1994 at $42.6 billion, down from $52.5 billion set for 1993. "The world economic conditions and surplus oil supplies have affected prices and imports from our country, so the (oil) prices dropped," Fahd said.

Saudi Arabia, one of the world's biggest oil exporters, is IMPORTING JET FUEL and other refined products for Operation Desert Storm. Although officials will not disclose how much fuel is being consumed in the thousands of sorties over Iraq, some analysts estimate Saudi Arabia is seeking to import 200,000 to 400,000 barrels of jet fuel daily--above their own production of 350,000 to 400,000 a day.