[Sherman Logan]

I suspect the Saudi moves are aimed a lot more at defunding Iran than affecting American production.

[Hugin]

I’m sure they would be happy to accomplish both.

[Svartalfiar]

I suspect the Saudi moves are aimed a lot more at defunding Iran than affecting American production.

Yup. The Saudis have plenty of $$ in their bank account to weather cheap oil for years, if not decades. Cheap oil hits net exporters the worst, especially those that depend on oil exports to fund their government.

Almost every oil field is pretty cheap to pump oil (offshore maybe excepted), what gets expensive is growth. Searching for, checking, and drilling new wells is what costs a lot of money. But to keep pumping what you already have built is easy everywhere.

So yes, a lot of their aim is to slow Iran/regional security complications (as they see it), but the added bonus of slowing US/Russia/any competitors is just good for them longer-run.