RFE: Plunge In Oil Prices Deals Another Blow To Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan
When the crucial OPEC+ meeting broke up on March 8 after major disagreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia, it sent the price of oil plunging.
Other countries dependent on oil exports for revenue could only watch with trepidation during the succeeding days as oil prices continued to sink.
Prices did finally stabilize in late March, though at levels significantly lower than they were just weeks earlier.
But the lockdowns around the world caused by the spread of the coronavirus and the accompanying reduction in economic activity resulted in a drastic reduction in the need for oil, leaving a massive glut in supplies.
There was plenty of oil but fewer customers, and storage space for the extra oil quickly reached capacity, leading to a second crash in oil prices on April 20 with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) falling briefly below $0 per barrel.
WTI's nadir dragged the price of other oils like Brent Crude and Urals down with it and some people in the oil business are saying the glut, and historically low prices, could remain for months.
On the eastern side of the Caspian Sea, the governments in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan must surely be wringing their hands in despair -- in Ashgabat more than in Nur-Sultan.
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WNU Editor: These countries are completely dependent on oil and gas exports to sustain their economies. To be completely dependent on China to buy their product has exposed how vulnerable they are to China's demands.
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