Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia increased oil production while also discounting its export oil prices. Brent oil price instantly dropped from about $50 to a low of $33 per barrel. The Saudis were retaliating against Russia for its failure to support an Opec decision to decrease oil production by a shared total of 1.5 million barrels per day (mbpd) meant to protect prices from reduced global oil demands caused by coronavirus impacts.
On the face it, it looks like a supremacy showdown between Saudi Arabia and Russia, but in the background is US. The three are the top world oil producers with US, Saudi Arabia and Russia producing 15.0, 12.0 and 10.8 mbpd respectively in 2019. But US is a late comer to the top position mainly due to a significant increase in its shale oil production over the last five years, making US a formidable competitor for oil export market shares against the other two countries.
