Posted on 06/21/2008 9:39:31 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Why Saudi Arabia's King Wants to Dampen Oil Prices By Bernhard Zand
Consumers aren't the only ones being hit by high oil prices. Now that the oil shock has reached producing countries, Saudi Arabia has called a crisis summit this weekend in an effort to find concerted solutions that could push barrel prices down.
Others would be overjoyed to be earning a $1 billion a day, and to have good reason to expect that number to climb to $2 billion a day next year.
But Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud seems less than thrilled these days, and the newly tense atmosphere at the Saudi Petroleum and Natural Resources Ministry in Riyadh is a reflection of his mood. Early last week, the Saudi king decided that enough had been said about the oil price, and that it was time for action. He invited the world's petroleum elite to attend a meeting at his summer residence on the Red Sea, and this time he wants everyone on the list to attend: the heads of state and relevant cabinet ministers of oil-producing countries and the biggest oil consumers, the heads of ExxonMobil, Shell and Gazprom, and bankers from Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Lehman Brothers. The meeting, to be held at the Royal Palace on the Corniche in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, is scheduled for June 22.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
(1) It could spur concerted efforts to cut dependence on oil as prime energy source.
(2) It could weaken the political power of environmentalists, allowing oil exploration in areas which have been off limits, which could undercut their clout in world oil market.
Ping!
Opec president rules out any hike in oil production (Democrats still against Domestic Drilling)
3. Long term, might result in actual political and military shifts to control the largest oil resources.
The Saudis learned in the oil crisis of the 70s that it is in their long term interest to provide oil at reasonable rates, which in their view is the highest rate at which the world will not begin developing alternatives to Saudi oil. This has now been crossed, and it is out of their hands to control the prices now.
The 82nd from above, a couple of Marine divisions from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and Viola! Billions of gallons for Joe Sixpack & Suzy Soccer Mom. Who could stop us? LOL
At the current rate of things...it wouldn’t take more than two or three years for people to start considering their other options. For example...the guys who live 80 miles from their job site...might just decide it’d be better to move within twenty miles and cut out that 120 miles of driving per day, thus saving four to five gallons a day ($20).
The companies who regularly send employees to conduct site visits...might just go to teleconferencing. The $6 million they spent each year on airline travel cut down to $1 million.
The RV crowd? They might decide to just park the RV in one location and stop driving the thing...thus saving $5k a year in gas cost.
Dad might decide to skip buying Junior a car at 16...offering him one at 18 instead. Junior might start riding the school bus again which would save the family $1500 a year in gas cost that Junior used.
Europeans might decide that airline costs are too much for their yearly exotic vacations...thus staying closer to home.
The US military just might buy into the blimp development game, and dump its cargo planes for blimp transport...which would save on fuel costs.
Someone might accidentally discover the cost of transporting goods from China to the US...is fairly significant. But transporting from Mexico to the US would be cheaper...so they start building more factories in Mexico, thus cutting more fuel usage.
And somewhere down the road...is the hydrogen vehicle. The odds of one in your local town by 2012...almost zero. But by 2020...there might be a fair population of hydrogen stations thus allowing the population to have more of these cars.
The Saudis lose in the long run. No one will pay $12 a gallon for gas...we’d go bankrupt.
And Hashemites get to rule Mecca again. Saudis go back to their Bedouin existence. Wahabi-sponsored schools, Mosques, terrorist cells lose their funding.
it will also hurt their investments abroad in nations like us that import their oil
the return on those investments is paramount to the sale of daily crude....especially in the long run
The REAL threat is that we Americans will treat this the way we did shooting for the Moon ... if we as a national people determine to become energy independant, NOTHING the Arab goons can do will stop US! And that takes the number one consumer out of their markets in the next decade, because it would take US no more than ten years to accomplish this task if the demcorap party would stop their service to the enviro wackos and Sorosesque commies as an empowerment scheme for democrats. If the democrap obstrauction continues at present pace, millions will starve int he next decade due to the lack of feretilizers and fuel for our world-feeding farmers. NO ONE in media will address this FACT.
That might have a bit of an effect on some Mexicans choosing to stay in their own country instead of crossing our border illegally.
I meant to write ‘obstrauction’ but i didn’t mean to put that extra “e” in fertilizers. That just stinks don’tchaknow
It could spur the United States to put him and his stinking regime on the terrorist list where he should have been long before.
High prices are making America get serious about a real energy policy, like drilling.
Pray for W and Our Troops
4) Maybe they are afraid we will charge them the same for a bushel of corn as they charge us for a barrel of oil.
(hefty export tax to OPEC countries who do not grow their own food )
If we pass legislation for drilling they will lower that price.
The Saudis also have much of their money invested in the U.S. It would be the last thing they want to damage the economy!
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