Saudis to boost production: Too little too late?
The Saudi royal house has anounced today it will be boosting production by 500 thousand barrels a day next month in order to fight rising oil prices. The official reason is the Saudi fear that rising oil prices will bring to a decline in demand and to discontent. Well demand is not likely to drop any time soon (we all need to get to work with our car and China is just developing a thirst); and while many assume that by discontent, the Saudis mean the discrantled mobs of Europe, the truth of the matter is that they fear the beast they might awaken further to the west, the U.S.
Americans are sick and tired of serving as a sort of world police. Gone are the days of the White Man's Burdon (not surprising, there is an African American candidate at the top). With rising oil prices Americans care less and less about democracy in the Middle East and other "nonsense" like genocide or hunger. The next American president will not be the one that says "I will bring peace in my time" or "a palestinian state". It will be the president that will say: "America, my baby, has an addiction to oil and it needs to quanch its thirst. Now we have the most powerful army in the world and by god I am going to get my precious America the oil it needs, whatever it takes". The whatever it takes part is the one the Saudis fear most. They know that if the American president is going to be hard pressed for oil, it will stop at nothing to get that oil including force and that frightens them.
Now I know what you may all be saying: well how is the U.S. going to do that without a multilateral UN consent? Let me remind you folks that George Bush waited for UN consent on Iraq, and when he did not get it, he went on it alone. Now maybe some Security Council members will object but it is unlikely. Europe is in pretty much the same boat as the US as the riots in Spain show, and along with the fear from Islam they are unlikely to say 'no' provided they get a piece of the pie.
Given this state of affairs it is understandable why Saudis want to boost production. Question is will they be able to get the others in OPEC to go along with it because analysts predict that Saudi Arabia is near top capacity and might not be able to bring the price down much as it once could.
Americans are sick and tired of serving as a sort of world police. Gone are the days of the White Man's Burdon (not surprising, there is an African American candidate at the top). With rising oil prices Americans care less and less about democracy in the Middle East and other "nonsense" like genocide or hunger. The next American president will not be the one that says "I will bring peace in my time" or "a palestinian state". It will be the president that will say: "America, my baby, has an addiction to oil and it needs to quanch its thirst. Now we have the most powerful army in the world and by god I am going to get my precious America the oil it needs, whatever it takes". The whatever it takes part is the one the Saudis fear most. They know that if the American president is going to be hard pressed for oil, it will stop at nothing to get that oil including force and that frightens them.
Now I know what you may all be saying: well how is the U.S. going to do that without a multilateral UN consent? Let me remind you folks that George Bush waited for UN consent on Iraq, and when he did not get it, he went on it alone. Now maybe some Security Council members will object but it is unlikely. Europe is in pretty much the same boat as the US as the riots in Spain show, and along with the fear from Islam they are unlikely to say 'no' provided they get a piece of the pie.
Given this state of affairs it is understandable why Saudis want to boost production. Question is will they be able to get the others in OPEC to go along with it because analysts predict that Saudi Arabia is near top capacity and might not be able to bring the price down much as it once could.
posted by The Middle East News Addict at 10:29 AM
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