Saudi Arabia raised oil output about 8 percent to 9 million barrels plus per day (bpd) to make up for a near halt in Libyan exports, an industry source said, helping prices fall further from the highest since 2008.
Some European oil firms reported they were looking to buy more crude from Iran.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) Governing Board discussed developments on the world oil market.
The IEA disclosed that, based on industry reports, it appears that between 500,000-750,000 barrels per day of crude oil, or less than 1% of global daily consumption, have been removed at present from the market because of the situation in Libya.
In a separate quote from Sabine Schels, an analyst from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, “We already faced a demand shock last year with global demand increasing by 2.8 million bpd and on top of that, what we have now is a real supply shock.”
The real trouble could come if unrest spreads to Saudi Arabia, according Fox News Channel contributor Charles Krauthammer. According to Krauthammer,
“There’s a Facebook call in Saudi Arabia for a day of rage all over Saudi Arabia on March 11, 2011. Now, the Saudis have really good intelligence. They are tough. They’re ruthless and they’re effective. There isn’t a lot of anti-government activity in Saudi Arabia.”
But Krauthammer is concerned if the unrest spreads in eastern provinces,
“in the eastern provinces, which are Shiite – if you get major eruptions on March 11, all hell is breaking loose,” he continued. Krauthammer is not sure anything will happen in Saudi Arabia, but he says if something happens, we got a whole new world we’re living in.”