Oil prices fall after Saudi Arabia announces it will not cut production if non-OPEC members do not as well.

Oil prices fall after Saudi Arabia announcement

RIYADH, March 23, 2015 – The price of oil fell over the weekend by more than a percentage point after Saudi Arabia announced it would not be reducing its production. The price for a barrel of Brent crude fell by $0.67 between Friday and Monday, settling at $54.65 as of early Monday morning.

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al Naimi said that the market determines the price of oil and that without production cuts from non-OPEC members, the situation would not improve.

“The production of OPEC is 30 percent of the market, 70 percent from non-OPEC…everybody is supposed to participate if we want to improve prices,” Al Naimi is quoted as saying by Reuters.

Saudi Arabia produces about 10 million barrels of oil per day, and currently has no plans to increase production. The country has maintained that its oil policy is not a political move, despite harsh criticism from other major producers such as Iran and the US.

Read our latest insights on: