Posted on 01/14/2016 4:10:02 PM PST by bananaman22
The great Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—the long-time dictator of crude oil prices for the world—is struggling on all fronts.
The Saudis are losing their proxy wars in both Syria and Yemen; their OPEC leadership is under threat; they are not winning the crude oil price war; and its long-running alliance with the West is in question.
From Saudi Arabia’s perspective, Iran seems to be gaining ground everywhere. Saudi Arabia has several weaknesses that help explain the current anxiety emanating from Riyadh.
1. Saudi Arabia losing its leadership in the OPEC
Saudi Arabia has been the default leader of OPEC; however, despite Saudi insistence to the contrary, the U.S. shale boom, increased Russian oil production, and a very resolute Iran are challenging this leadership.
The result is that Saudi Arabia now finds itself powerless in supporting oil prices. Instead of the much-needed production cuts, during the 4 December 2015 meeting, the OPEC nations refused to adhere to any ceiling, which has been the practice for years.
(Excerpt) Read more at oilprice.com ...
Muslims are going to eat each over in the coming years and we are going to have a hard time securing Middle East oil.
Annexed by Iran. Making it the de facto leader of muslims by virtue of controlling all the Islamic ‘holy’ sites, except Jerusalem ... guess what their next step is ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.