New Saudi king seen holding line on OPEC policy to keep oil output high

January 23, 2015

Singapore, Jan 23: Saudi Arabia’s new king is expected to stick to an OPEC policy of keeping oil output steady to protect the cartel’s market share from rival producers, even as energy markets face some of the biggest shifts in decades.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah died early on Friday and his brother Salman became king, the royal court said in an official statement.

Salman has named his half-brother Muqrin as his crown prince and heir, rapidly moving to forestall any fears of a succession crisis at a moment when Saudi Arabia faces unprecedented turmoil on its borders.

The new king is expected to broadly continue Abdullah’s policies, analysts say.

“King Abdullah was the architect of the current strategy to keep production high and force out smaller players instead of cutting,” said John Kilduff, partner, Again Capital LLC in New York.

Kilduff said that Salman was known as a defender of Saudi Arabia’s interests and that the market would expect him to keep production high.

FGE analyst Tushar Bansal said: “By and large, as of now no major change is expected in Saudi policies” but he said the market would focus on whether Saudi Arabia’s oil minister might be replaced.

“Ali Al Naimi has been the oil minister since 1995.

Previously, it was reported that he expressed a desire to step down, but King Abdullah asked him to stay on for as long as he is around.

“So, the real question is, if there is a new oil minister soon, will it lead to a change in Saudi energy policy?”.

Crude oil futures initially jumped on Friday but then came off highs and were still trading at levels more than 50 per cent below their most recent peaks in June, 2014.

LAST SUCCESSION

A continuation of existing policies would be in line with what happened after the last succession. In 2005, when King Fahd died, similar concerns over Saudi Arabia’s leadership emerged.

Following the announcement of King Fahd’s death on August 1 2005, Brent rose to an all-time high of almost $61 a barrel.

Crown Prince Abdullah, who had effectively been in charge since Fahd suffered a stroke in 1995, was installed as new king and swiftly calming traders officials stressed that there would be no changes in an oil policy of keeping markets were well-supplied.

HUGE MARKET SHIFTS

Friday’s announcement of King Abdullah’s death comes amid some of the biggest shifts in oil markets in decades.

Oil prices have halved on the back of soaring supplies coupling with cooling demand due to economic slowdown in Europe and Asia, and because of improvements in energy efficiency, meaning producers are earning sharply lower revenues.

As a result, Saudi Arabia faces its first budget deficit since 2009 and it has to navigate difficulties with other OPEC members such as Oman and Venezuela, which disagree with the strategy of not defending prices.

Booming US shale production has turned the United States from the world’s biggest oil importer into a top three producer, with output topping 9 million barrel per day.

Led by Saudi Arabia, OPEC announced last November it was keeping output steady at 30 million barrels per day, pulling down the Brent price by another quarter over the next month as the market digested the fact OPEC would not come to the rescue.

OPEC’s decision not to act, led by Saudi Arabia, was aimed at defending market share against US shale producers as well as other non-OPEC exporters such as Brazil or Russia.

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Syrian Town erupts after Israeli forces enter Beit Jinn; heavy casualties reported

News Network

November 28,2025

Several Syrians were killed and more than two dozen others injured in Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Damascus, amid intensified incursions by the occupying regime since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule.

Syrian state TV reported that the casualties occurred during an overnight Israeli assault involving helicopters and drones on the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. The attack followed an Israeli military unit’s entry into the town, where they were surrounded by local residents, leading to gunfire and direct confrontations.

According to the report, “The occupation army’s helicopters and artillery shelled Beit Jinn, located at the foothills of Mount Hermon, resulting in 13 martyrs and 25 injured civilians.” The broadcaster did not specify the full extent of damage.

Al-Ikhbariyah Syria confirmed that the shelling coincided with Israeli soldiers entering Beit Jinn, while artillery pounded surrounding areas. The broadcaster stated that the escalation began after local residents clashed with an Israeli patrol that had infiltrated the southern town and “kidnapped” three young men.

Following a two-hour exchange of heavy fire, Israeli forces withdrew and repositioned on the hill of Butt al-Warda at the town’s outskirts.

Israeli media acknowledged that six soldiers were wounded in the clashes—three of them seriously—describing the confrontation as a “sudden ambush” that forced the deployment of reserve units and air support to secure an exit route. No further details were provided.

The aggression has fueled renewed displacement from Beit Jinn, with residents fleeing to nearby villages amid increasingly frequent Israeli attacks.

The raid came just a day after Israeli troops carried out another ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in Quneitra province. According to SANA, an Israeli unit in four vehicles entered the village, raided several homes, and later withdrew.

Syria condemned the repeated incursions as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and UN resolutions, urging the international community to enforce compliance and pressure Israel to halt its operations and withdraw fully.

Israel has expanded its attacks across Syrian territory following the collapse of the Assad government last year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize strategic positions.

Meanwhile, critics say the HTS-led interim government’s inaction and growing normalization gestures toward Israel have emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations. HTS, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, seized control of Damascus last December, formally ending Assad’s rule.

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