Saudi Arabia braces for impact

The kingdom may have to pay a steep price for its efforts to reassert leadership in oil politics

Saudi Arabia has been portrayed as the last man standing from its oil price war with Russia and the US, which briefly dominated the market in March before Covid-19 switched the story dramatically from supply to demand. But now the bill for attempting to bring American shale producers to their knees and discomfiting Russian president Vladimir Putin may be coming due. Riyadh is beginning to shoulder a disproportionate burden for rebalancing global crude markets. And oil prices barely blipped on this week’s news of unilateral Saudi production cuts of 1mn bl/d, which came alongside other domestic moves including a VAT hike and austerity measures totalling $26.6bn, offering a glimpse of possible