Saudi Arabia’s oil sector is facing its biggest slump in a decade, keeping the kingdom in recession in 4Q2020. Activity in the Saudi oil sector fell 8.5% during the quarter, a contraction that Bloomberg says is the biggest since at least 2011. The fall in output is largely due to the OPEC+ mandated production cuts, which have seen Saudi Arabia hold back 5 mn barrels of daily output. Saudi’s economy contracted 3.9% y-o-y compared to the same period in 2019, according to official figures (pdf) released yesterday. This was the sixth consecutive quarter of falling output, though the figure was an improvement from the 4.6% contraction seen in 3Q2020.

Oil turbulence has nothing on Vitol, whose bottom line hit a record USD 3 bn last year, Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the oil trader’s financials. The company’s performance shows how — despite a year of sluggish growth — trading houses enjoyed a “bonanza” thanks to a month-long oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia that was followed by output cuts from OPEC+, the business information service says.

The EGX30 fell 0.3% yesterday on turnover of EGP 805 mn (45.5% below the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is up 3.2% YTD.

In the green: GB Auto (+2.5%), Abu Qir Fertilizers (+2.0%) and Orascom Development (+1.9%).

In the red: Ezz Steel (-4.1%), Orascom Financial (-3.8%) and Edita (-3.5%).

Major Asian indices are almost uniformly in the red this morning, with only the Nikkei edging ever so slightly into the green. Futures point to a mixed open in Europe (London and Frankfurt down, Paris up) and they also suggest the Nasdaq, Dow and S&P will open in the red this afternoon, as will shares in Toronto.