Oil price outlook: Saudi Arabia set to lengthen output cuts,
Saudi Arabia is likely to stick with its recent oil output cut for the next two months in order to drive up prices and pull in more revenue to fund its lavish spending projects, according to a survey.
Twenty out of 25 commodity traders and analysts polled by Bloomberg said they expected the Gulf Kingdom to prolong its current production cuts into October.
The world's largest crude exporter started pumping out 1 million fewer barrels a day in July and has kept output at that level since.
Benchmark Brent crude prices jumped to nearly $88 a barrel earlier this month as markets adjusted to the drop in supply but have dipped in recent weeks on worries that China's economic issues will drive a fall in global demand levels.
Oil is a key engine for growth in Saudi Arabia, which is currently in the midst of a massive economic diversification campaign spearheaded by its leader Mohammed bin Salman.
bin Salman, who is the country's Crown Prince and prime minister, is leading the Vision 2030 program, which it's funding through a combination of crude revenues and increased borrowing.
The country plans to build a futuristic desert mega-city called Neom from scratch and has already embarked upon a sports spending spree, with the government-backed Public Investment Fund buying English Premier League soccer club Newcastle United, launching the PGA Tour rival LIV Golf, and luring Cristiano Ronaldo to the Saudi Pro League.