Saudi Arabia has pledeged to pump more oil to meet the latest increase in crude prices. Um, where exactly is all this new oil coming from and how, if all its previous pledges have had little effect on prices for the last two years, does Saudi Arabia expect the market to believe it can make a difference this time.
The promise seems twice as hollow when you consider that the Saudis will aim to keep OPEC producing at peak levels….just as OPEC member Iran threatens to cut production, which caused this price spike in the first place.
Saudi Arabia has long been the most conservative member of OPEC and understands that high oil prices will ultimately hit them the hardest as oil dependent nations wake up and see the need to diversify their energy supplies. OPEC suffered the most from its oil price increases in the 1970s as western nations sought new oil from other parts of the world and prices plummeted.
Iran might be playing a political weapon but Saudi Arabia is more interested in palying the pusherman