Oil: What’s Next for Saudi Minister Abdulaziz, the ‘Taylor Swift of Energy’?

investing.com:

Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman isn’t short of fans. One of them is Eric Nuttall, a Canadian who invests in oil equities.

“His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud is the Taylor Swift of energy: a master of his craft and as the 2nd most powerful man in the energy world after The Crown Prince, quite literally the ‘hottest ticket in town’,” Nuttall gushed in an X (former Twitter) post on Sept. 19 as he stood beside Abdulaziz at an industry event in Calgary, which was attended by the half-brother to the future Saudi king Mohammed bin Salman.

That was before oil's epic selloff in October, which caused long-only investors, or those betting on prices to rise, a loss of between 9% and 12% of their holdings within the first week of the month. It was quite a departure from the time of the Calgary event, when bulls across the energy space were toasting a third-quarter return of nearly 30% on crude prices.

Taking to Twitter again on Oct. 5 — after crude fell a cumulative 8% in just two days — Nuttall reminded anyone disbelieving the bull narrative in oil that “Saudi is in the driver's seat and to doubt their ‘will’ and ‘intent’ would be foolhardy.”

That last bit had been his mantra for a while:  that Abdulaziz’s will and intent — ostensibly in returning crude to $100 a barrel or more via some of the deepest Saudi production cuts in history — is contested only by those clueless about the oil market and where it is headed.

Abdulaziz, asked for his own outlook on oil, had a different spin. 

Even before the selloff, the minister told the Calgary event that Saudi production cuts were prompted by his doubts about the same oil demand Nuttall had been lecturing everyone on. Abdulaziz rattled off a list of