Saudi Arabia budget deficit swells on oil price fall

[bark]

No more gold toilets and door knobs!

It back to living in tents and sand fleas.

So sorry for them, NOT

[wwest5829]

I'd love to see the UAE go broke.

Uderstand the feeling, however, at the cost of increased political instability?

[wabothai]

I'd love to see the UAE go broke.

Uderstand the feeling, however, at the cost of increased political instability?

Or a Chinese take over.

[thaibeachlovers]

I wonder how this is going to work out when they can't afford to fund the Hajj?

?????

The haj is a huge moneyspinner for the Saudis. They get more than 18 billion $ from religious travellers. Did you think it was free for them for hotels and travel in SA. Then there is the flight on Saudia.

Edited December 30, 2015 by thaibeachlovers

[jacko45k]

How much is a litre of petrol or diesel now in KSA?

Just interested as it used to be cheap by my scale of reference, UK, and time frame, pre 2004, and in these austere times perhaps it is much more.

[Naam]

I remember about 1973 when the oil cartel (OPEC) including Saudi cut back the supply of oil to drive the world price up. Prices skyrocketed and gas stations ran out of gas. Stations that had gas had long lines and limited purchases to 10 gallons. Then they started selling to cars with even numbered plates on even numbered days and vice versa. It was common to see stations with signs out that said "no gas." OPEC was rolling in money even though it hurt the other economies.

I have to wonder if some of this is that the US has discovered more proven oil reserves than all of the rest of the world combined. Surely the US was a big buyer from the cartel where now it is actually a net exporter of oil. They don't know where to put all of the oil.

The US economy isn't based on pumping oil although it's a bonus. But countries like those in OPEC and Russia and Argentina are sucking air right now.

Somehow I'm really not "sorry 'bout that". They brought it on themselves by driving prices so high that people went hunting for more, and a lot has been found. They turned oil into gold that people went looking for and they found it.

Cheers.

"net exporter"

facts 2014/15

-US crude oil consumption............. 19.000.000 barrels/day

-US crude oil imports...................... 9.000.000 barrels/day

-US net imports petro-products... 5.000.000 barrels/day

-US crude oil production..................9.000.000 barrels/day

http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=727&t=6

The United States is currently an exporter of petroleum products and coal, but an importer of natural gas and crude oil. When the energy content of these fuels is combined, the United States in 2014 imported 23.3 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) of energy and exported 12.2 quadrillion Btu. Projections in EIA's recently released AEO2015 show that, on an energy content basis, U.S. energy imports and exports could come into balance in coming years.

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=20812