Saudi will not change oil policy

(MENAFN) Energy experts said that they do not expect that Saudi Arabia will change its oil policy following the death of King Abdullah and King Salman taking reign of the throne, Gulf News reported.

Saudi Arabia, which prides itself on a very conservative policy shift framework, is not expected to make any changes in the policies that resulted in it leading the OPEC to decide not to change their oil output despite the global plunge in oil price to each their six-year low.

Oil prices, which spiked due to an uncertain situation after the announcement that King Abdullah died, are expected to resume in their current declining trend once the market is clear on the new king's view with respect to the current oil situation, adding that the European Central Bank announcement of the quantitative easing program also had a major impact on the temporary increase in oil prices

"The death of King Abdullah caused an immediate spike in oil prices as there is a significant amount of volatility and speculation in the oil market at the moment. But, this is expected to be a short term phenomenon as there is not expected to be a radical shift in policy," a global energy expert at the University of Oxford said.