It’s a case of the pot painting the proverbial kettle in shades of onyx.That’s because Saudi Arabia’s high-ranking energy minister — the head of the world’s largest petroleum cartel — is accusing international speculators of a “ploy” to drive down oil prices and manipulate international crude markets.Speaking in Riyadh on Wednesday, Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud accused Western traders of pushing oil prices down about 25% this month alone to the lowest levels since July..North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) closed at USD$75.77 on Thursday, down from a year-high of $94.59 on September 27. On the same day, European Brent was down to $80.53 after hitting $95.57.Alberta’s signature Western Canadian Select (WCS) bitumen blend has taken it even harder, closing at $50.58 Wednesday after hitting $73 on September 27.More troubling, the light/heavy differential has widened to its highest levels since May — or $23 per barrel — as crude stocks build on this side of the border in anticipation of line filling the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to the West Coast, creating what is expected to be a temporary glut of Canadian stocks..It comes after the OPEC+ cartel on Wednesday extended more than 1 million barrels per day of production cuts until at least the end of this year, which analysts interpreted as weakening demand from market heavyweights such as China.But bin Salman Al Saud, who gave a keynote at the World Petroleum Congress in Calgary in September, accused traders of “an abuse of numbers.” He warned earlier this year speculators and short-sellers who bet against OPEC would be "ouching like hell" if they attempted to manipulate the market — the way OPEC itself does..“It’s (demand) not weak. People are pretending it’s weak. It’s all a ploy,” he told state controlled media. It comes amid continuing high inflation and recession fears in both the US and Europe, including Canada. After an initial spike following the October 7 attacks on Israel, market fears of potential disruptions stemming from a wider Middle East war have begun to ebb as the Northern Hemisphere eases into what is typically a lower demand period for gasoline in the winter months.That prompted British bank Barclays on Wednesday to lower its 2024 Brent forecast by $4 to an average of $93. In its new forecast, Barclays noted the easing of supply fears due to the resumption of sanctioned Venezuelan barrels and continuing gains in US shale production.“Demand concerns have returned recently but based on our assessment of the aggregate data, these might be misplaced," it said in a research note. “The recent decline in prices is driven primarily by the reappearance of demand concerns and not the fading of the geopolitical risk premium.”
