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Saudi Arabia’s oil war against Iran and Russia
NYP ^ | 14 Dec 14 | Ralph Peters

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 ...


TOPICS: Cuba; Egypt; Foreign Affairs; Israel; Japan; Russia; Syria; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: china; cuba; egypt; europeanunion; iran; iraq; isil; isis; israel; japan; kurdistan; lebanon; opec; russia; saudiarabia; syria; unitedarabemirates; venezuela; waronterror
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To: Ouderkirk
There is a whole dynamic there that you and I simply cannot comprehend for two reasons.

One, we don’t live there.

I used to.

Two, we’re not nuts.

See number one...

41 posted on 12/15/2014 5:12:26 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

42 posted on 12/15/2014 5:21:32 AM PST by SJackson (incompetent and feckless..the story of the Obama presidency. No hand on the f***ing tiller, Hillary)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

43 posted on 12/15/2014 5:21:33 AM PST by SJackson (incompetent and feckless..the story of the Obama presidency. No hand on the f***ing tiller, Hillary)
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To: thackney

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.


44 posted on 12/15/2014 5:42:40 AM PST by Ouderkirk (To the left, everything must evidence that this or that strand of leftist theory is true)
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To: Ouderkirk

You stayed in the nicer part of the Arabian peninsula. I lived in Yemen 93 and early 94.


45 posted on 12/15/2014 5:44:22 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
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To: Cronos

“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.


46 posted on 12/15/2014 5:49:06 AM PST by bayouranger (Those who are anti-islam are a National Security Threat.- J.Brennan CIA Dir. Feb10)
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To: Cronos; elhombrelibre; tcrlaf

“the Saudis make no real investment”

****************
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.


47 posted on 12/15/2014 6:29:32 AM PST by Starboard
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To: Cronos
the Saudis make no real investment

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.

48 posted on 12/15/2014 6:38:48 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
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To: Ouderkirk

sub $40/bbl helps them in many ways

************
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.


49 posted on 12/15/2014 6:39:13 AM PST by Starboard
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To: Starboard

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.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-16/saudi-arabia-oil-stance-seen-targeting-opec-output-discipline.html

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/11/28/different-kind-oil-crisis-285331.html


50 posted on 12/15/2014 6:43:31 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
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To: thackney

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.


51 posted on 12/15/2014 7:00:21 AM PST by Ouderkirk (To the left, everything must evidence that this or that strand of leftist theory is true)
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To: Ouderkirk

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.


52 posted on 12/15/2014 7:02:48 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
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To: elhombrelibre

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.


53 posted on 12/15/2014 8:57:21 AM PST by Wuli
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To: Wuli

Columbia? Really? I didn’t even know they produced oil.


54 posted on 12/15/2014 9:14:20 AM PST by elhombrelibre (Against Obama. Against Putin. Pro-freedom. Pro-US Constitution.)
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To: elhombrelibre

Good. Sanctions? We don’t need no stinking sanctions.


55 posted on 12/15/2014 3:06:34 PM PST by Eleutheria5 (End the occupation. Annex today.)
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To: elhombrelibre

Would be nice if this results in regime change to certain producing countries. Including the USA.


56 posted on 12/18/2014 12:19:34 AM PST by KingofZion
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To: Ouderkirk

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.


57 posted on 12/20/2014 11:19:33 PM PST by Dave W
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