Pm 2.5
pm 2.5, $20 oil in 2020 is coming, tweeted Ali Khedery, a former U.S. official in Iran and onetime Middle East expert with Exxon. Huge geopolitical implications. Timely stimulus for net consumers. Catastrophic for failed/failing petro-kleptocracies Iraq, Iran, etc. - may prove existential 1-2 punch when paired with COVID19. Iran's oil exports, its main economic lifeline, have been under siege for quite some time. Experts say the escalation of the global price war between Saudi Arabia, the world's top exporter, and Russia could cripple many nations outside Saudi Arabia, with Iran topping the list.
pm 2.5 - TRUMP: IT'S 'LOOKING LIKE' IRAN WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR SAUDI OIL ATTACKS Oil prices have plunged 30 percent, the largest one-time drop since the 1991 Gulf War. Now, with oil trading around $30 a barrel, many experts say the price isn't one Iran can survive on. Saudi Arabia and Russia formed the so-called OPEC+ alliance in 2016 after oil prices plunged. Since then, the two countries have orchestrated supply cuts of 2.1 million barrels per day. The Saudis wanted even steeper cuts, but Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to play along, worrying that it would give American oil producers too much ground.
pm 2.5, On Friday, Putin's energy minister, Alexander Novak, said beginning next month, countries could produce as much oil as they wanted. The Saudis, angered by Russia's refusal, said Sunday it would open its spigots and drive down prices. If a true price war ensues, there will be plenty of pain in the oil markets, Badr Jafar, president of Crescent Petroleum, a United Arab Emirates oil company, told The New York Times. Many will be bracing for the economic and geopolitical shocks of a low-price environment.
pm 2.5 - In no place is that more clear than Iran, which has already been feeling the sting from American sanctions. Export earnings in Tehran have also been drastically slashed and experts warn that a further decline could stretch what little ability the country has left to pay for vital services and security. The fall in oil prices could actually have more of an effect on the country than Western sanctions had had over the past several years, says Justin Dargin, a Middle East energy expert from Oxford University.
pm 2.5 - Aside from the price plunge, Iran is also dealing with the coronavirus, which has morphed from a health crisis into an economic one. On Sunday, Iran's health ministry reported 49 new deaths from the COVID-19 virus - the highest toll within 24 hours since the start of the outbreak in the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about one in every 12,000 Iranians have the virus. The country has the third-most cases behind China and South Korea, though experts fear the country is underreporting the extent of the outbreak in an attempt to hide a desperate situation for which its own leaders are partially responsible.