Saudis Create First Time In History Event

The Saudis’ actions led to something unprecedented: for the first time within memory – and probably ever in history – every major oil-producing country was producing at below all-in costs. In other words, not one of the world’s major oil producers was covering its nut. Growth for all of them slowed, while even the best situated, including Saudi Arabia, was borrowing money and spending monetary reserves to make ends meet.
So why the mad rush to pump as much oil as possible? Some numbers and dates tell the story. It was not to destroy shale but to establish their oil as the major part of the benchmark that would serve the East.
Between the start of 2010 and end of 2014, Saudi Arabia supplied China with more than 250 million tons of oil, compared to the less than 117 million tons China got from Russia. Since 2015 the differential has steadily narrowed. Over the past 10 months it has been a virtual tie as the lead has changed hands five times – the only five times Russia has ever exported more oil to China than has Saudi Arabia.