Saudi’s management of oil production in the COVID-19 era receive appreciation

Robert Yoger, Executive Director of the Energy Futures Department at Mizuho Securities Financial Group, said that OPEC – as well as the entire energy industry sector – should thank Saudi Arabia for the wonderful job it performed in managing its production during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It is better to leave the market entirely in the hands of Saudi Arabia to manage it,” said Yoger, in a television interview with “Bloomberg” this week.

“The collapse of oil prices (in the Covid era) has had a terrible impact on the industry,” said Yoger. But the market rebounded again under the management of the Saudis, he continued.

The rest of OPEC – and indeed anyone in the world of the oil industry – has a lot to thank Saudi Arabia for.”

“The kingdom played an active role in managing the market in the months that followed the crash,” he added.

Yoger concluded by saying: I think that everyone realizes that he shouldn’t take the initiative to pump his quantities of oil into the market and allow the Saudis to run the market and leave matters in the hands of the Kingdom, they did a great job.

Saudi Arabia, of all OPEC members, was perhaps the most conservative when it came to increasing production as the OPEC group tried to balance prices and market share.

After much internal bargaining, OPEC agreed to increase 400,000 barrels per day starting in August.

Another 400,000 BPD increase is due to run in September and every month thereafter until the cuts are completely canceled.

Meanwhile, analysts and industry groups feel that inventories are down and that more oil should be put on the market.