Saudi Crown Prince: We Compensated Twice the Reduction of Iran's Oil Production

On Friday, October 5, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced that Saudi Arabia, along with other oil-producing countries, has compensated for the reduction in Iran's oil exports, even "twice that amount." In an interview with Bloomberg regarding the U.S. President's request to compensate for Iran's oil reduction, he stated, "This has happened." He emphasized that Iran's oil exports have decreased by up to 700,000 barrels per day, while Saudi Arabia, along with some OPEC member countries and non-OPEC countries, has increased production by one and a half million barrels per day. Mohammed bin Salman added, "Therefore, we are exporting up to two barrels of oil for every barrel of Iranian oil that has recently disappeared." On Wednesday, October 3, Reuters reported, citing informed sources, that there was a "private" agreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia during the OPEC monitoring committee meeting on October 1 in Algeria to increase oil production again. This occurred while the U.S. request for OPEC to increase oil production was publicly rejected at the same meeting. Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, Iran's representative at OPEC, stated that Saudi Arabia and Russia have increased production by 346 and 250 thousand barrels per day, respectively, compared to their commitments in the OPEC cooperation statement, which constitutes a violation by these two countries. Russian government statistics indicate that for the first time in several years, due to the average price of its exported oil exceeding $70 in the first nine months of this year, Russia will not face a budget deficit but will also have a surplus. On Friday, as the market contracted ahead of a new wave of U.S. sanctions against Iran's oil industry set to take effect next month, global oil prices stabilized below the highest levels in four years. The U.S. government is pressuring all governments and international companies to stop purchasing Iranian oil starting next month, aiming to exert pressure on Iran to negotiate a new deal instead of the JCPOA. Previously, Iranian media had reported that purchasing one million barrels of oil was among the conditions set by the Islamic Republic for an agreement with Europe and remaining in the JCPOA. However, many experts believe that Iran's oil exports will decrease to about one million barrels per day, equivalent to the previous sanctions period and before the JCPOA. According to forecasts from the American bank Jefferies, "only China and Turkey are willing to take the risk of U.S. sanctions for trading with Iran." Meanwhile, Reuters reported on Friday night, citing its sources, that India purchased nine million barrels of oil from Iran. Two sources told the news agency that India will also be a crude oil customer in November, coinciding with the start of U.S. oil sanctions against Iran. In response to Donald Trump's remarks that his country "would not last two weeks without the U.S.," the Saudi Crown Prince stated, "Saudi Arabia existed before the U.S. Saudi Arabia has existed since 1744, I believe more than 30 years before the U.S. was established. I apologize if someone misunderstands this." He emphasized, "We will not pay for our security," but rather, "we buy weapons from the U.S. and do not receive them for free." Donald Trump, in part of a campaign speech in Mississippi, stated that he told the King of Saudi Arabia that his country "would probably last no more than two weeks" without U.S. support.