arabia to cut oil production in an effort to boost prices saudi arabia responded by announcing plans to pump much more oil at hugely discounted prices both the saudis and the russians say they can survive the crisis by relying on their foreign reserves of around $500000000000.00 each but experts say saudi arabia needs oil prices at around $82.00 a barrel to balance its budget russia needs only half a thought. while it remains unclear what kind of truce if any might be reached what is clear is that current prices are bad he says but buys welcomed the low prices. attention is switching to the white house where donald trump is under pressure from u.s. oil executives and congress for more action if saudi arabia and russia fail to agree to marriage child 3 for inside story. so let's bring in our guests in moscow we have mikhail cretien a partner at the consulting agency ross energy in london election law the president of energy intelligence that is an industry analysis company and in providence rhode island in the united states geoff colgan a professor of political science a brown univers

russia it's very bad for saudi arabia. that's very bad i mean it's bad for both so i think they're going to make a deal a deal to cut production in response to the drop in demand from the corona virus outbreak collapsed last month since then the cost of crude has fallen to lows not seen for almost 2 decades russia and saudi arabia slashed prices and ramped up production in the fight for market share just as demand collapsed. the current of ours pandemics forced governments to impose widespread lockdowns close factories and restrict travel worldwide some experts say the united states needs the oil market to stabilize so its own industry doesn't collapse it is imbalance that the united states would wish to have to have the price of oil sort out its industry not that that's not collapse and disappear its oil production industry. on the other hand also for the consumers to be happy the price will began last month when russia rejected plans by saudi arabia to cut oil production in an effort to boost prices saudi arabia responde

within saudi arabia. and the basic sort of recognition or basic argument that historians make is that from the beginning this relationship in the 1930s, 1940s, the u.s. government and american oil companies were involved in domestic saudi politics. strikes among aramco workers in 1945, 1953 and 1956 led to demands for reform and the nationalization of aramco by the saudi government. the government suppressed the strikes and arrested or exiled the leaders. the groups such as the national reform front later called the national liberation front, formed out of these uprisings. later leaders and dissidents regarded the u.s. air base and aramco itself as constituting a colonial presence in saudi arabia. this was the era of anti-colonial nationalism, decolonization in the arab world. a movement for a constitutional monarchy supported by workers, by some government employee and technocrats, and even some members of the ruling family was defeated in the early 1960s. the u.s. government closed ranks behind the king

the kingdom of saudi arabia. as far as we can tell, it has pretty much all of the world's slack capacity. it's the difference between what you produce and what you could produce. if theoretically tomorrow, if there was a problem elsewhere in the world, say venezuela descending into anarchy, problems in iraq, nigeria was having a systemic issue, countries in the gulf, specifically saudi arabia, can increase production to compensate for the shortfalls elsewhere in the world. that gave through the swing producer. that power of increasing oil production to compensate for shortfalls anywhere else in the world lies not just within opec, but largely within the gulf. statistics for how much slack capacity in the world are really opaque. it's no more than 5 million barrels a day. it used to be about 10 million barrels. now it is 4 million to 5 million barrels. >> i don't have much to add other than to say that a swing producer is undeniable. saudi foreign policy also benefits from the perception that that is the case. we

saudi arabia and russia saudi u.a.e. military coalition has begun a 2 week unilateral ceasefire in yemen they says to prevent a coronavirus outbreak but he spacemen says coalition strikes are continuing. iraq's prime minister designate this year has been appointed intelligence chief mr falcon to me has been asked to form a government none knows if he withdrew his candidacy under pressure from the opposition. he says it's killed a 1000 boko haram fighters in an operation near the lake chad border region an army spokesman says 52 of its soldiers died in the operation started more than a week ago officials say the armed group has been forced out of the country defense it was known as. attack killed nearly 100 child in soldiers last month's. stay with headlines got more news here on al-jazeera right off the inside story. a cease fire after 5 years of war the saudi u.a.e. coalition and yemen begins a 2 week troops but the rebels say they'll continue the fight how will this affect a conflict that has already created the world'

arabia but also of course and practical terms saudi arabia as you say is fighting the coronavirus inside saudi what's the point in controlling it in your own country if you share a 1800 kilometer border to a country that's just about to get it and quite a porous border so everything points toward saudi arabia meaning this seriously meaning this as a serious cease fire and we have to hope that the who sees can reciprocate. an indication that from elizabeth but explain to me what you believe the the consequences of a corona virus outbreak would be in yemen firstly i'd just like to appear to rate elizabeth's point in that we really welcome this ceasefire and we're urging all parties all of the warring parties to lay down their weapons and really focus on what the real fight is right now which is fighting a global pandemic which will absolutely devastate yemen and when i talk about devastation elizabeth already mentioned that the health facilities the war has destroyed yemen's health but it's still a t.v. it's all to systems many of its health workers haven't been paid for 2 years or more we

arabia and russia and they do anything saudi arabia and russia are really exciting a lot of these women saying and controlling the situation of course the primary driver is their pandemic but you know that the the 2 countries that are the superpowers of oil the largest exporter so it really played their cards in my view quite well and have made the most of this these very difficult circumstances and to go back to the point you raised before in terms of the response of the show producers in the us we're seeing a response to the company i was mentioning carol so i work with money to succeed in the in the i don't pass in the us and money to the recount but also the fact who's who's echoing through the fracking wells we've seen a dramatic drop in in fact who's in the number of. transcribes are active in the in the basin circle the last month we've seen a decline of $105.00 cubes deep in the in the sudan that's a very dramatic decline in security percent month month a month decline 60 percent you know new news probably more the plan is coming and i like the u.s. is going to be under some pre

arabia runs saudi arabia saudi arabia takes dictate from banks within london in new york and this is you know that's why there's infighting within the house a salad you have mohammed bin solomon resting in other members of the house of saudi is because there is the wanting to lean further towards the east because the numbers in the economics in the longer term are more sustainable makes sense whereas you have the traditional relationship you have the post world war 2 establishment you know between the u.s. and. and saudi arabia that has evolved into what the petrodollar set up after the gold standard ended in the early seventy's and that paradigm is starting to give none of this can be discussed out in the open you don't have analysts on bloomberg or c m b c or in the f.t. or what not bluntly discussing the risks but as your other guests. there's already a you know a kara selling or a cascading effect within western finance a 6 month spell of oil below $40.00 could devalue as much of the western financial system because $1.00 trillion dollars is the amount of energy or debt that's ti

up next on booktv, a look at the decades long rivalry between iran and saudi arabia with kim ghattas >>> evening. i am andrew, the director of the scowcroft institute of international affairs and the bush school of government here at texas a and m. university. i'd like to welcome our special event this evening with kim ghattas who's going to speak on the recent book, "black wave" saudi arabia, iran and the forty-year rivalry that unraveled culture, religion and dollective memory in the middle east ." i have to say i spend the weekend reading it. i couldn't put it down it was so interesting. if you haven't read it after thisis evening i'm sure you will try to get it if you haven't already. i would urge you to to read it. it is fascinating, very well researched and i that there is a narrative flow to it and it is very troubling i have to say that that is the purpose of the book i think. i would like to announce unfortunately our event in two days with ambassador dennis ross was another expert in the middle east is unable to come to the collegcollege station. he had a family emergency a

and saudi arabia's oil revenues plunged nearly a quarter in the same 3 months as the coronavirus pandemic limits global to mount. good morning from doha everyone on canal santa maria and this is the world news from al-jazeera. a 2nd night of rioting in lebanon as a currency crash pushes the economy to the brink. president taking . place in the philippines are accused of abusing human rights as they enforce strict coronavirus measures. full of stories to come but we're going to start with lebanon where violence has escalated during a 2nd night of protests in the northern city of tripoli demonstrators set fire to a bank and hold rocks at security forces who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets the protests are bernie growing as the crisis hit economy crumbles further because of the corona virus outbreak monday one protester was killed during the riots has more for us from tripoli. hunger and hopelessness are driving lebanese to the streets the economy is close to collapsing protesters vent their anger at banks for preventing people from accessing their savings and a long serving polit

the murder and why the massive crackdown on human rights activists inside saudi arabia. and the larger bare welcome to complex so nice to be here it's around 16 months since agents of your state to murder jamal khashoggi in cold blood in your consulate in istanbul what's striking in retrospect is that 3 days later your crown prince mohammed bin told the turkish authorities to search the consulate and added we have nothing to hide a remarkable statement because in fact the last 16 months have been full of aspects of this case that you have hidden right from the start and going on hiding the truth i don't believe so we have said that this was an old operation that it was not authorized we have investigated the people who were part of this operation charges were leveled again. 11 of them 5 of them were facing the death penalty the trial began in january the trial was attended by representatives of the permanent 5 countries and on the security council plus 3 people i'd like to talk i'd like to talk about the trial but but but straight away after the event there's just take t

russians coming out and essentially pushing back on saudi arabia saying saudi arabia was the one standing in the middle and standing in front of getting a deal done. the saudis pushing back in the last 24 hours in a statement his royal highness saying what the russians had said was, quote, fully devoid of the truth and the withdrawal of the kingdom from the agreement is not correct. russia was the one that refused to get involved while the kingdom and 22 other countries making up opec were trying to persuade the russians to make further cuts and extend the agreement. that took place yesterday. this morning i had the chance to catch up in an exclusive interview with the head of the rdif, one of the main architects of this russia/saudi arabia detente that's been growing since 2016 >> i think they're very, very close. if you look at the announcement president putin made on friday, he says russia is ready for 10 to 12 maybe even more million cut that is important for the markets. he talked about how important this oil deal is, so russia is committed. i think we came a long way with saudi arab

the side for examples out there what the saudi arabia one. the most important thing that saudi arabia wants is to secure its borders and to distin who sees a from iran or the more in bottom thing that you want these 2 things and i think these 2 things can there can be made it can be area materialized because. if you're in the borders is easy if they don't want to or a buffer zone and also the stinting of these are from iran is also easy but what does you want to see war from here from their side they want to. keep their share the share they want in buying and the 2nd important thing the sunni wants is. not to hand over power to. declare a mistrial and this may be in this could be a big obstacle or a 1000000000 hurdles and right in there in the way of making be here in yemen right and with those competing interests you know the yemeni people now left to deal with another threat the threat of coronavirus we thank you so much for joining us with that insight now saraki i. well the epicenter of america's corona virus outbreak new york state has r

it was a time that iran and saudi arabia were to counter communism in the region. they were friendly competitors in that endeavor. they called each other with titles and they were not necessarily the closest of friends but they were friendly and cooperative in a lot of ways so that is an assumption that it's always been like that between iran and saudi arabia, and it wasn't. it's always going to be like that and they've always kill each other. those are the two that simplify. some people thought that his error should be the closest relatives and some people thought that it should be his closest confidant and that eventually became the sunnis but even the first few decades following, those identities were not as clearly defined. it evolved over time and so that is tha another preconceived ides and misconceptions they will havbothhave about the region evn president obama said he had been killing each other for women wanting millennia the final misconception people have particularly because of the constant droning on at the headlines that are focused on tyrants and di

unique knowledge on the kingdom of saudi arabia, stay with us. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ good morning, everyone, bloomberg's "surveillance." an eventful thursday and the last two thursdays have been extraordinary. the direct statement on the american labor economy and its economic contraction, we will look at millions filing for jobless claims in america. as guy johnson has mentioned, london is focused on oil. this is one of the most historic days for opec and the nations around the outside of the cartel. one of the great students on the leader of the cartel, saudi arabia, is john sfakianakis with chatham house and we are honored he could be with us to give us perspective on the royalty, the kingdom of saudi arabia. i believe the king and the family and mbs and the rest are retreated by the red sea. they are doing what all leaders are doing, trying to stay healthy. what is their number one goal today? what is the best outcome for the kingdom? honoredrst of all, i am to be on your show. thank you very much. today is a historic day. they would be

arabia but the difference to pose is that britain and america are best friends with saudi arabia which is actually caught the heads of more people in the reign of this king and it's not been a long reign yes done i saw some dark have just point of out for a moment george so let's examine america's close friends saudi arabia they continue to engage in these barbaric style executions en route math what do you make of their increase in executions in 21000 and do you think that amnesty international counted your friend jamal khashoggi in those figures for the year before. well a very good point indeed this regime in saudi arabia has cut the heads of 800 people in the short reign of the current king but it also caught my friend jamal khashoggi into little pieces not just being made but to cut them into little pieces but they haven't suffered any qualms or reputational. with the people the governor's the crown prince m.b.a.'s who everybody knows gave the order to trump up jamal khashoggi has just been given permission to buy an english premier league football team you console united so he's

saudi arabia showed no bowing to pressure from president trump. instead, they pushed crude supply to record levels. the price were getting everyone's attention in global markets. >> from the coronavirus, we were going to be globally oversupplied on energy to begin with, and the russia-saudi dispute and desire to pump even more makes this oversupply even worse. significantly, 50 million to 20 million barrels for day, which will contribute 5 an approximate $5 million barrel a day decline. you will see lots of challenges in the permian basin, and we think the permian will shrink this year. guiding this year to capital spending in the permian over $4 billion. we have reduced that by $2 billion. that is coming down by half. >> we believe if not the the prices epidemic, could go back to $45, maybe $50 a barrel. that would be quite sufficient for us in the economy. this is a billion dollar question for many of us, and it is too early to say how this is going to unfold. joining us now from florida is the president in transversal consulting and senior fell

can you build a mosque in saudi arabia? why not? they want to exclude mecca because of religious, whatever, what about the rest of the country? that's a big problem. >> does this change have to come organically or is there a role for the government leaders? how does reform -- you say reform is needed, how does this reform come about? >> it's a taboo subject right now. it's difficult to introduce the budget. in several countries, those people, individuals, whether they were scholars or prominent figures who wanted to debate in discussion of islamic reform have been castigated. some of them were penalized for other reasons but, you know, it was pushback from government officials or others in terms of their official stance. this is what they understand from introducing debates about islamic's future. fundamental issues going back to socioeconomic development, unless you have good education systems where you are able to introduce thinking, analytical thinking, you prove equality in the country, you prove socioeconomic, or economic devel

we were criticized for having radical preachers in saudi arabia preaching hate. when we detained them we were criticized for taking away their freedom of speech it's a damned if you do damned if you do situation if you don't situation do you want them to preach hate or do you want them to stop you can't have it both ways that's the park which is that perfect mr march last year 36 countries you know this issued a joint statement expressing particular concern about your use of counter terror legislation against individuals peacefully exercising their rights and freedom 36 countries germany france u.k. spain italy australia and they also misjudge the situation in your country yet you seem to be badly misunderstood by some of the most expert biggest experts in the world yes they are really not about happened i don't think they know so little that they shouldn't they need to be more educated we have been fighting terrorists and scarce is it credible is it i mean you can sit here and say that but that's insulting to their internally she says have laws and there is a li

it signals this 0pec plus cooperation, particularly saudi arabia and russia. their cooperation will continue. it was unique because the 620 continue. it was unique because the g20 was part of it and cooperated and tried to figure out how to bring it together they had not just out how to bring it together they had notjust 0pec but the largest economies in the world and then finally, the key player in bringing russia and saudi arabia back together again is one of the harshest critics of 0pec up until now which is president trump. what sort of role has president trump laid in this? he played an important diplomatic role. he applied an enormous number of —— amount of pressure, personally calling putin and ben salman and telling them, which is also kind of remarkable, we need to get oil prices higher. —— mohammad bin salman. it is a reflection of just how steep this price colla pses just how steep this price collapses but also the united states is to be importing lots of oil and now we've your —— 110w of oil and now we've your —— now we are the larg

arabia, saudi arabia had the advantage of oil which is why a much more minority interpretation spread but we seem to be doing saudi arabia's work for them we were so dismissive of other trends we see from our vantage point of peripherals and sometimes i would argue, it looks like you might disagree with me a little bit but our own perspective from washington to get in the way, i will agree with brian that there has to be a limit to what we do in terms of the religious debate that we cannot ignore completely but on the other hand our first role should be first do no harm. >> would you disagree. >> not necessarily disagree but i have a little bit different take. >> i don't disagree but i disagree. [laughter] >> i do think that islam is in great need of reform. i don't think there's any denying to that, the muslim world has a great problem in terms of underdevelopment, at this point in time it is violent. i am not saying religion causes but there is a case of violence throughout the muslim world. if you look at the muslim world today, i cannot remember the figures, but eight or nine musl

this was my hope and suggestion to saudi arabia, and we all know that saudi arabia is the country which has to stabilize the oil markets the past several times. saudi we see once again ensures that its leadership in the g20 this year and brings all of the relevant parties. this would be a very strong signal both in terms of the political situation and in terms of volumes. vonnie: this opec+ meeting is an open one. anyone is open to attend. that cry has already been heard. how much of a production cut would be necessary to bring prices up to $30 a barrel, given that they are not at $30 a barrel, at least for wti, even with the idea of a 10 million barrel a day cut priced in? victor: first of all --fatih: first of all, i should say the opec+ meeting is open to everybody is a bit different in terms of giving a political signal, compared to having a g20 meeting, having all of the producers and consumers together. second, in terms of how much a cut needs to be done, i can tell you that even the 10 million barrels a day, that would be an increase by initially 15 million barrels a day. so we h

pipeline we'll tell you how coke at 19 and saudi arabia fit into all of this. with no end in sight to the nationwide coronavirus lockdowns can voting by mail be a viable option for the november elections we're going to discuss that all right it's time to boost your news i you. know packing and other allied oil producers made a deal during a virtual meeting today that will take oil production to historic cuts artie's rachel blevins has been following the story all day and she's joining us now with more details to this deal rachel well manella saudi arabia and russia have agreed to a historic deal which will see the world's top will producers cutting output by $10000000.00 barrels per day amid a sharp decrease in demand from the coronavirus pandemic the deal was made during a virtual meeting between opec members and other allied oil producers on thursday and during that conference russia's energy minister called for unity and warned that if oil prices are not stabilized it will have made. massive impact on the global economy. stances require swift and timely meas

saudi arabia's been looking for a way out the u.a.e. is essentially pulled his own troops out of yemen what's going on between these 2 countries and how will that affect what the s.t.c. has done. and out of the box but not of the omegas his so it's a very difficult to tell because. as you correctly pointed out. that our there is a very solid relationship going on between the leaders and it all kind of is as well as all of the lifting and so many of the things they have also could be a lot of corn leaving the on the political economic and social issues headed by. the crown for the vote and that is and they seem to be working towards more of a british a lot of the many and yet we see that there how are. some kind of conflicting objectives of conflicting vision is this thing really haven't but also in other areas and you know they're there in the way you are with the role of i was quite. as likely more of the. fool to until 'd all are beautiful and so you go in this relationship. and knowledge is going on where the u.a.e. is supporting the

is it going to be saudi arabia and russia together? is it going to be all of the opec+ members combined going to cut so much? none of those details are out yet. the russian government also says they haven't spoken to the saudi side. obviously, saudi arabia has asked for an urgent a put less -- an urgent opec+ meeting. we will have to see what happens then. vonnie: if the president can have the market rally and crude oil prices get up to where we haven't seen them in a long time without even an actual official agreement from the two parties, why do they even need to agree on anything? can't they let the president do their work for them? pratish: yes, and that is going to be a question that is definitely going to be asked. havea and saudi arabia always touted the independence of the opec+ group. they couldn't come to an agreement earlier in march, and that is when they decided to go on this all-out war, especially targeting american shale producers. but now what is happening is the american president seems to be dictating what they shoul

and canada for the moment and these from the saudi and saudi arabia one of the what they would like to do is get 10000000 barrels a day of cuts from opac and nano and this alliance by themselves now it remains you see what they're going to be able to do that and whether they're going to need additional cuts from members outside this alliance and that would include countries like the u.s. and canada but i think it's it's going to be very tricky as far as we're hearing right now to get the u.s. to commit something tangible to really kind of say that we will actually reduce production even if they do come. production how long you think it'll be before we'll actually see oil prices start to rise again. they were it's always very difficult to predict how all prices react you know when when something her comes up that should should spur or president move on where the other i mean it in an ideal world what would happen is if they came to an agreement today and tomorrow with the sort of broader g 20 he would see a bump an oil prices i'm around $3034.00 a barrel right now you may see a bump in

president trump touted a deal with opec between saudi arabia and russia. that was not really confirmed we are heading to that opec-plus meeting this week. this is bloomberg. ♪ haidi: wti trading lower by almost 9%. friday,er gaining 12% 25% thursday. the volatility that continues after opec-plus delayed a planned meeting -- and the spat between saudi arabia and russia. this is about who is to blame for the collapse of oil prices. the standoff continues. president trump has ramped up his threats to do oil tariffs. mr. trump: i am a big believer in our energy business. if i have to do tariffs on oil from outside or i have to do something to protect thousands and tens of thousands of energy workers and our companies that produce all of these, i will do whatever i have to do. let's bring in the nasdaq director of energy. great to have you with us. how does this end? we have been saying there is a political situation brewing and there is a political strategy to solve this if the intention is there. are we likely to get any detente? >> i think the answer to th

i think that saudi arabia, russia so i think that saudi arabia, russia are talking and i will meet with the oil companies on friday and meet with independent oil producers on friday or sunday, maybe saturday, but we have a lot of meetings on and i think i know how to solve it but, if they are unable to solve it, i think i know what to do to solve it. i will not mention it now but it is tough. i think i know what to do to solve it. we do not want to lose our oil companies. we are the world number one producer of oil. well, on thursday president trump took to twitter to say this... 10 million barrels is equivalent to 10% of the world's global oil supply. that sent the price of crude surging and boosted us markets in the process. however some scepticism is creeping back in, with the president evasive to say the least when asked about the tweet by reporters in the last few hours. it would be grateful russia and saudi arabia and i hope they make that and that is what they told me... ithink make that and that is what they told me... i think it will be hopefully soon. i think hopefully soon. i

look at what happened in september in saudi arabia. how the hell did that happen if we accept them sort of defensive system and things like this? that's the main point is you see it in washington there's this episodic and largely tactical and emotional debate that i think in some ways it's important. it's a reflection of a lot of americans say what the heck. but it's often not strategic. it often assumes the sort of tool of assistance or sales, if we cut it off, then we have read them the riot act and that's it and it will change. i think we need to have some what of a stay back from these tools and emphasize the other aspects. what we've done with all of these arms sales has not produced the stability in the region and inside these countries. >> okay. anybody have any questions? >> identify yourself if you do have a question. >> the gentleman in the back. >> association of u.s. army. i had a question about the arab-israeli conflict. i think for a while especially in the '90s it was disbelief that all roads to middle east stability wit