Saudi Arabia's tolerance of falling oil prices is perplexing market analysts leading some to believe the Kingdom is using lower crude prices to achieve some wider economic and political goals.
Oil prices have fallen by over 20 percent in the last few months and reached its lowest level at $83 per barrel, and according to Deutsche Bank Research, the Saudi government could run a significant budget deficit of $56.8 billion next year.
Some experts argue the Kingdom - the world’s biggest oil exporter - is able to tolerate lower prices in the short term because it has accumulated large foreign assets and does not need to balance its budget every year.
A producer, however, is ultimately concerned first and foremost with total revenues, says a report by Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. For example, seven million bpd of crude exports at $75 would fetch Saudi Arabia $525 million per day while 6.2 million bpd at $100 would earn it $620 million, the report explained.
The report examined the suggestion that Saudi Arabia is driving down prices in order to batter the petroleum export-dependent Russian and Iranian economies.
This scenario was considered in the report and it commented that using oil markets as a ‘political weapon’ would represent a radical shift in oil policy for the Saudis.
"One should question the effectiveness of such a policy and whether it can induce a radical shift in Iran’s or Russia’s foreign policies,” the report stated.
Some countries in the region are conspiring with the west to use oil prices to hit the country’s economy, according to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said on Wednesday that dependence on oil revenues is equal to putting the national economy into the hands of the world's policymakers.