Posted on 12/14/2014 2:08:05 PM PST by elhombrelibre
This week, oil fell through the price floor of $60 a barrel and gas at my local filling station was $2.26 a gallon.
That’s great news for commuters and almost every business, but wonderfully bad news for our ugliest enemies.
If oil prices remain low through next year, the effect on rogue governments, from the Russian Federation to Venezuela, will go from damaging to devastating.
But Western economies (and China’s) stand to benefit, with cheap oil possibly tickling Europe’s snoozing markets awake. Even most underdeveloped states will get a welcome break.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
One, we don’t live there.
I used to.
Two, we’re not nuts.
See number one...
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
I spent 18 months in Saudi Arabia in 1988/89 on their OTH Radar Program. It was some of the most peculiar times of my life.
You stayed in the nicer part of the Arabian peninsula. I lived in Yemen 93 and early 94.
“Our country is facing continuous threat because of its almost total ... Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest crude oil exporter, earning ... North American shale gas production is an inevitable threat,” prince filthy koranimal Alwaleed said.”
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Release the 28 redacted pages.
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T Boone said we could destroy them w/in 6 months w/ a NatGas conversion for our 18whlrs alone.
“the Saudis make no real investment”
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Are you familiar with sovereign-wealth funds? Like most other countries the Saudi’s have many foreign investments. They have gone through periods before when the price of oil dropped and they had to borrow money – and even sell assets — to get through these crises so they have learned to soften their exposure to economic disruptions. The fact is, the kingdom has considerable investments abroad, and domestically is committed to diversifying its economy and supporting infrastructure projects.
The point is, the Saudi’s do invest a lot of their oil revenues so to say that they don’t is just not accurate. If you can cite credible evidence/data to the contrary it would be interesting to see.
Saudi Arabia has and continues to expand one of the world's largest refinery and petrochemical complexes in the world. Jubail is a huge industrial complex and continues to expand with massive investment for products beyond crude oil.
sub $40/bbl helps them in many ways
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Not if the global economy is softening and demand for oil is slipping. The International Energy Agency cut its demand growth forecasts for 2015, noting that the rout in prices had so far failed to stimulate buying.
The Saudi’s are not immune from the effects of lower revenues. While they can ride it out in the short run, it remains to be seen how long they will allow low prices to continue.
Saudi has ~$750 billion in cash reserves. While they cannot last forever at low oil prices and current spending levels, other major oil producing countries will have a far greater problem and “change” the current situation before Saudi needs to make a change.
http://www.newsweek.com/2014/11/28/different-kind-oil-crisis-285331.html
Yes...it was “nicer” but a clear culture shock to me.almost 30 years ago Suadi Arabia was still largely undeveloped I’ll bet Yemen was ...well, Yemen. The garden spot of the anus of hell 20 years ago.
We were on the South side of the Rub’ al Khali. 60 miles from the nearest paved road and I’d imagine 100 miles from the nearest flush toilet.
Actually its more a war, at the moment, not with major produces that can sustain a price slump for awhile, but with smaller producers - Nigeria, Columbia and others - who have been losing U.S. domestic market share and started marketing to some of the Saudi’s big customers in Asia. The Saudis are trying to put the small producers out of business, more than trying to hurt, for very long, large producers.
Columbia? Really? I didn’t even know they produced oil.
Good. Sanctions? We don’t need no stinking sanctions.
Would be nice if this results in regime change to certain producing countries. Including the USA.
Saudis don’t work. All these production workers are imported from various countries. It has been a big problem for decades. Saudi Arabia can’t get its people to work and this potentially is a problem for the future.
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