The US-Saudi war with OPEC to prolong oil’s dying empire
Whoever controls the price of oil can play god with the global economy – that’s why the US and Saudi Arabia are leading the way to smash OPEC and re-create a new global oil cartel
“No one can set the price of oil,” said Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi earlier this week. “It’s up to Allah.”
Which is an interesting comment given Saudi Arabia’s insistence on boosting high levels of production since last year. The strategy has maintained a global supply glut, playing a key role in the dramatic lowering of oil prices.
Although the Saudis have recently increased official selling prices in response to stronger demand, al-Naimi made clear that they have no plans to curb production.
Make no mistake – the global oil glut is not just a result of market-driven supply demand dynamics, but an intended consequence of an evolving US-Saudi strategy to use oil as a weapon.
That is not to suggest that the US and Saudi Arabia are in complete agreement over the strategy, or even that it is being hatched and executed in total coordination. Rather, an uneasy convergence of mutual interests has given rise to a strategic accommodation between the two allies.
The targets of the strategy include their chief geopolitical rivals, climate change activists and renewable energy advocates.
Playing god with oil
The idea of using oil to play god is hardly new, but for the Obama administration it dawned with the US shale gas boom.
In the summer of 2013, Obama’s then national security adviser Tom Donilon, explained in Foreign Affairs, that the surge in US domestic energy production “allows Washington to engage in international affairs from a position of strength”.
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