Saudi Arabia to 'stabilize' oil market after US ends sanction waivers on Iranian crude – Riyadh
The Saudi government has announced plans to compensate countries for potential losses to keep the global crude market in balance after Washington’s decision to end waivers granted to buyers of Iranian oil.
The oil-rich kingdom pledged to assess the impact of tightened US sanctions targeting Iranian oil exports on the market before raising output. Saudi Arabia has always supported sanctions against its regional rival Iran.
“Saudi Arabia is closely monitoring the oil market developments following the recent statement from the US government regarding oil export sanctions on Iran,” Energy Minister Khalid a-Falih said in a statement.
“Saudi Arabia will coordinate with fellow oil producers to ensure adequate supplies are available to consumers while ensuring the global oil market does not go out of balance.”
Earlier on Monday, the White House said US President Donald Trump plans to end sanction waivers granted for the buyers of Iranian crude starting from May 2. Countries that do not stop buying oil from the Islamic Republic after the deadline risk facing US sanctions.
To ensure low oil prices and avoid disruption to the global oil market, the US authorities granted temporary import waivers to China, India, Greece, Italy, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey and South Korea. Greece, Italy and Taiwan have reportedly slashed their oil imports from Iran to zero, while China, India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey took advantage of the waivers during the first six-month window that started in November 2018.
Last August, President Trump reintroduced economic penalties against Tehran after pulling the US from the nuclear deal clinched between Iran and and six world powers in 2015.
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