Saudi Arabia is willing to endure short-term oil price and revenue pain as it is making a U-turn in policy and going to take back market share and ditching its unofficial $100 oil price target, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, quoting sources with knowledge of the latest Saudi thinking. The world’s top crude exporter and leader of OPEC, Saudi Arabia, and its allies in the OPEC group have been withholding oil supply for over a year, in a bid to balance the market and prop up prices.
In its monthly report for September, OPEC further trimmed its demand growth outlook and further weighed on oil prices and market sentiment. In just two months, demand worries have flipped the bullish view of traders and speculators to the most bearish positioning in petroleum futures in recorded history since 2011.