By Ovunc Kutlu
Ankara
As oil prices continue to fall and oversupply remains in the market, OPEC producing nations have begun to compete for the Asian market to increase their market share by lowering their official sales price, OSP.
After Saudi Arabia cut its OSP to Asia last week, Kuwait, Iran and Iraq followed the world's largest crude oilexporter on Wednesday by also lowering their prices to Asian countries - intensifying competition in the biggest regional oil importing market.
The kingdom had lowered its OSP to Asia on Feb. 5 by $2.30 per barrel for its March sales.
Meanwhile, Kuwait's national oil company Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said Wednesday that it trimmed its OSP by $4.10, while Iraq had a discount of $4.10 per barrel as well and Iran's National Oil Company lowered its OSP by $2.10 per barrel.
According to OPEC's Monthly Oil Report, released on Feb. 9, Kuwait and Iran each produced 2.8 million barrels per day during 2014, while Iraq's output was 3.3 million barrels, and Saudi Arabia led the oil cartel with 9.7 million barrels per day.
"Saudi Arabia is certainly concerned about market share in Asia," Richard Mallinson, a geopolitical analyst at London-based energy market consultancy Energy Aspects, told The Anadolu Agency.
"The March OSPs reflect the continued competition between Middle Eastern exporters, but also with barrels from West Africa and even Latin America, all of which are trying to find buyers in Asia," he added.
Saudi Arabia remains the biggest crude oil seller to China - the world's largest net oil importer - while the kingdom is also the top crude oil exporter to major Asian economies like India, Japan and South Korea.
The kingdom exported 996,000 barrels of oil to China, while it sent 688,000 barrels to India, 1.09 million barrels to Japan and 802,000 barrels to South Korea per day on average during 2014, according to a monthly report of global oil market data from Energy Aspects.
"Saudis are giving out discounts to offset competitors aiming for a share of the Asian market," said Dr. Sijbren de Jong, a strategic analyst at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies.
"Saudi Arabia is competing in the Asian market with many oil exporting countries worldwide, especially with many from within OPEC," he added.
Other OPEC members, which recently lowered their OSPs, compete only for second place for the Asian countries.
Iraq was the fifth-biggest oil exporter to China - one of the two biggest oil importers in the world along with the U.S. - with 573,000 barrels per day in 2014. Iran came in sixth with 551,000 barrels of exports, and Kuwait was in eighth place exporting 213,000 barrels per day.
For India, the fourth-largest oil consumer in the world, Iraq exported 464,000 barrels per day to come in second as India's biggest exporter, Kuwait sold 322,000 barrels to take fifth position, and Iran came in seventh place with 280,000 barrels per day on average in 2014.
For Japan, the world's third-biggest oil importer, Kuwait was the fifth-biggest exporter with 245,000 barrels of crude oil exports, while Iran grabbed sixth place with 169,000 barrels, and Iraq came in ninth place with 40,000 barrels per day.
Kuwait took second place in exports to South Korea with 374,000 barrels per day on average in 2014. The country relies on imports to meet 97 percent of its energy demand. Iran came in fifth place with 123,000 barrels, and Iraq does not rank in the top nine countries that export crude oil to the country.
- Divisions within OPEC, Iran's discontent
After the oil cartel decided on Nov. 27, 2014 not to cut production, oil prices have furthered declined and divisions among OPEC members have deepened.
While Saudi Arabia and Kuwait refused to make production cuts to trim oversupply in the market, Iran voiced its discontent by claiming that OPEC's refusal to trim output is a political strategy to corner Iran in Middle Eastern affairs.
Rouhani, president of Iran, claimed on Jan. 13 that low oilprices are "a plot", adding that if Iran suffers from the drop, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will suffer more, as their budgets are highly dependent on oil exports, at 90 and 95 percent respectively.
Ali Tayebnia, the minister of economic affairs and finance of Iran stressed on Jan. 20 that the government is preparing to deal with any outcome, adding that it will not have any problems running the budget even if oil prices fall to $25 per barrel.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh stated on Jan. 19 that the country is in talks with other OPEC governments but the 12-member oil cartel has not yet decided to hold an emergency meeting.
Meanwhile, Kuwait's Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair responded to Rouhani's claims on Jan. 14 by stating that Kuwait does not harbor any ill will towards anyone nor will it participate in oil price wars.
