Bahrain, Saudi, most vulnerable to oil shock

Bahrain and Saudi Arabia topped the list of rated oil-exporting countries most vulnerable to plummeting crude prices, a leading international ratings agency said Tuesday in a report spotlighting the challenges confronting a region where crude is king.

Along with OPEC powerhouse Saudi Arabia and its tiny neighbor, Bahrain, Azerbaijan was also part of the top three in the vulnerability index list created by Standard & Poor’s. Norway, Cameroon and Mexico were the least vulnerable to falling oil prices, according to the report.

“The sharp fall in oil prices since mid-2008 has come as a welcome boom to oil-importing countries, but for oil-exporting countries the drop has been less welcome,” Farouk Soussa, a Dubai-based S&P credit analyst, said in a statement. “Some are facing dramatic declines in their fiscal and external balances in 2009, along with much less exuberant growth or even declines in their net asset positions compared with 2008.”

The report did not include several OPEC members, including Iran, which S&P said is not rated by the company.

AP