• Home
  • About MESH
  • Members
  • Papers
  • Contact

Middle East Strategy at Harvard

John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies :: Harvard University

Feed on
Posts
Comments

Bush begs Saudis (again)

May 16th, 2008 by MESH

From Gal Luft

Four months and thirty extra dollars a barrel later, President Bush is again in Saudi Arabia trying to persuade the Saudis to open the spigot and increase OPEC production. Last time the answer was a resounding no. Not even a gift of 900 precision-guided bombs helped convince the Saudis to show more oomph at the pump. The lesson for the Administration: speak softer and wave a bigger gift. This time the United States has agreed to help Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, develop “civilian” nuclear power.

Of course the Saudi interest in nuclear power has nothing to do with energy production but with Iran and the Sunnis’ fears of Iranian hegemony. Does President Bush really believe that helping the Saudis with nuclear technologies would cause Tehran to pull the plug on its nuclear program?

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi insists that the oil market is well supplied, blaming the high prices on hedge funds and speculators. Considering the fact that OPEC production level is not much higher than its level thirty years ago and that Saudi output is lower than it was two years ago, putting the entire blame on speculators is utter nonsense.

The Saudis have always taken pride in their role as swing producers, claiming to own over 2mbd in spare capacity. But what good is this liquidity mechanism if they are not prepared to use it? When last month Nigeria’s production fell by 330,000 bpd, OPEC did not lift a finger to compensate for the loss. At what level will they provide us with liquidity? $200? $300?

If the Saudis are right and it’s all about the speculators, why not put this to test? This is exactly what Bush should have suggested: pour some oil into the market for a limited period of time and let’s measure the effect on prices so we can determine who is the culprit. With projected revenues of $400 billion this year, the Saudis can surely afford to embark on such an experiment and clear their name once and for all. But as I wrote here in January, we’d rather beg than blame.

The spectacle of an American president begging for oil every few months only to be rewarded with a slap in the face is getting a bit tedious. What’s next? Naming one of our aircraft carriers USS Ibn Saud?

Posted in Gal Luft, Oil and Gas, Saudi Arabia | No Comments

Comments are closed.

  • This Site

    Middle East Strategy at Harvard (MESH) is a project of the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University.
    • Read about MESH
    • MESH blog
    • Download entire blog (pdf)
  • Last Post

    • MESH in hibernation
  • Subscribe

    Subscribe to MESH by email Posts+Comments
    Feed Posts+Comments
    Twitter Posts+Comments
    Posts+Comments
    AddThis Feed Button
  • Search MESH

  • Posts by Category

    • Administration (5)
    • Announcements (24)
    • Countries (248)
      • Afghanistan (11)
      • Arab Gulf (11)
      • Bahrain (1)
      • Caucasus (5)
      • Central Asia (2)
      • China (3)
      • Egypt (25)
      • France (2)
      • India (1)
      • Iran (79)
      • Iraq (36)
      • Israel (95)
      • Jordan (9)
      • Lebanon (28)
      • Pakistan (8)
      • Palestinians (52)
      • Qatar (1)
      • Russia (13)
      • Saudi Arabia (14)
      • Syria (18)
      • Turkey (15)
      • United Kingdom (3)
      • Yemen (5)
    • Members (270)
      • Adam Garfinkle (22)
      • Alan Dowty (19)
      • Andrew Exum (11)
      • Barry Rubin (14)
      • Bernard Haykel (9)
      • Bruce Jentleson (6)
      • Charles Hill (3)
      • Chuck Freilich (15)
      • Daniel Byman (17)
      • David Schenker (16)
      • Gal Luft (9)
      • Harvey Sicherman (11)
      • Hillel Fradkin (8)
      • J. Scott Carpenter (15)
      • Jacqueline Newmyer (6)
      • Jon Alterman (13)
      • Josef Joffe (17)
      • Joshua Muravchik (10)
      • Mark N. Katz (22)
      • Mark T. Clark (15)
      • Mark T. Kimmitt (6)
      • Martin Kramer (25)
      • Matthew Levitt (15)
      • Michael Doran (4)
      • Michael Horowitz (9)
      • Michael Mandelbaum (12)
      • Michael Reynolds (14)
      • Michael Rubin (8)
      • Michael Young (16)
      • Michele Dunne (16)
      • Philip Carl Salzman (32)
      • Raymond Tanter (17)
      • Robert O. Freedman (20)
      • Robert Satloff (17)
      • Soner Cagaptay (4)
      • Stephen Peter Rosen (13)
      • Steven A. Cook (14)
      • Tamara Cofman Wittes (18)
      • Walter Laqueur (21)
      • Walter Reich (11)
    • Subjects (274)
      • Academe (4)
      • Books (40)
      • Counterinsurgency (14)
      • Culture (21)
      • Democracy (16)
      • Demography (5)
      • Diplomacy (20)
      • Economics (1)
      • European Union (3)
      • Geopolitics (42)
      • Hamas (21)
      • Hezbollah (25)
      • Intelligence (10)
      • Islam in West (5)
      • Islamism (16)
      • Maps (27)
      • Media (5)
      • Military (19)
      • Nuclear (27)
      • Oil and Gas (14)
      • Public Diplomacy (10)
      • Qaeda (23)
      • Sanctions (8)
      • Taliban (3)
      • Technology (2)
      • Terminology (9)
      • Terrorism (30)
      • United Nations (7)
  • Archives

    • December 2009 (5)
    • November 2009 (13)
    • October 2009 (8)
    • September 2009 (9)
    • August 2009 (9)
    • July 2009 (9)
    • June 2009 (12)
    • May 2009 (16)
    • April 2009 (11)
    • March 2009 (16)
    • February 2009 (11)
    • January 2009 (10)
    • December 2008 (12)
    • November 2008 (11)
    • October 2008 (19)
    • September 2008 (15)
    • August 2008 (17)
    • July 2008 (18)
    • June 2008 (12)
    • May 2008 (17)
    • April 2008 (20)
    • March 2008 (27)
    • February 2008 (19)
    • January 2008 (18)
    • December 2007 (19)
  • Harvard Events

    Check upcoming events from the calendars of...
    • Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
    • Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES)
    • Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
  • Rights

    Copyright © 2007-2009 President and Fellows of Harvard College
    Site Meter

Theme: MistyLook by Sadish


Protected by Akismet • Blog with WordPress