Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman‘s bold move to cut oil production, in direct defiance of the US, has both boosted oil prices and the Saudi stock market. The Saudi stock market is directly influenced by the price of crude oil, which has been a boon for Saudi corporations.
Riyad Bank saw an increase to it’s share price of 3%, leading similar rises across Saudi Arabia’s leading corporations, as a result of the cut in oil production announced at the Opec+ meeting last week. The move was highly criticised by the US Government, with Joe Biden stating the Saudi Royal Family will “face consequences” for inflating oil prices, as well as a number of Democrats echoing his sentiments. There was also a call from Democrat Ro Khanna to impose an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia, which is looking unlikely to be implemented due to the vast profits made by US companies from weapon sales to the Saudi Royal Family.
