Xaaji Xunjuf Posted October 6, 2018 Home Wararka Manta Jobs Saudi Arabia Tells Trump No More Oil 45Shares Saturday October 6, 2018 Ellen R. Wald Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman responded publicly to President Donald Trump's recent spate of Tweets and statements concerning oil. While the President has been asking for Saudi Arabia to increase oil production to flood the market and keep prices down, the prince said no. This is a risk for Saudi Arabia, because Saudi Arabia has always depended a great deal on the United States --even its currency is pegged directly to the U.S. dollar--and the Trump administration has shown that it will take a hard stance on economic issues even with its closest allies. President Donald Trump meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) This week, oil prices reached highs not seen in four years. The international benchmark, Brent, hit $86 per barrel and the U.S. benchmark, WTI jumped to over $76 per barrel. U.S. President Donald Trump has been unrelenting in his public and private pressure on OPEC and Saudi Arabia to produce more oil and lower prices. After all, from his perspective, the increase in prices is a result of his new sanctions against Iran - which Saudi Arabia fully supports - and therefore, Saudi Arabia should deploy its spare capacity to ensure that American consumers don't face undo pain at the pump. advertisements Saudi Arabian oil minister Khalid al Falih tried to reassure markets that Saudi Arabia would increase production but that the market is actually very well supplied. The 9% increase in oil prices over the past 3 months, he said, is the fault of financial speculators, not a lack of supply. He's right, but the market and the speculators didn't believe him. That wasn't what the Trump administration wanted to hear, so the President ratcheted up his war of words during a rally in Mississippi. He delivered a low level threat to Saudi Arabia's King Salman when he said the following: We protect Saudi Arabia. Would you say they're rich? And I love the King ... King Salman but I said 'King, we're protecting you. You might not be there for two weeks without us. You have to pay for your military. Still, oil prices barely budged and the AAA reported that gasoline prices in the United States have reached their highest levels in 4 years. Soon after, Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman addressed global oil prices in an interview with Bloomberg where he said, The request that America made to Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries is to be sure that if there is any loss of supply from Iran, that we will supply that. And that happened....So we export as much as 2 barrels for any barrel that disappeared from Iran recently. So we did our job and more. We believe the higher price that we have in the last month, it’s not because of Iran. It’s mostly because of things happening in Canada, and Mexico, Libya, Venezuela and other countries that moved the price a little bit higher. Now the Trump administration has its answer--Saudi Arabia does not intend to deploy any more of its vaunted spare capacity to counter rising prices . There is still the opportunity for more oil to come on to the market from other places - the neutral zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the United States, Canada, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Libya and Nigeria. But all of those will take some time and investment. Saudi Arabia could put another 500,000 barrels per day per day on the market tomorrow - if it wanted to. But according to the crown prince, it does not. Now the ball is in President Trump's court. I’m an energy historian writing about how governments and energy businesses interact globally. My work looks at how policy, wars, diplomacy, the stock market, oil pricing, and innovation impact the future of energy. I am the president of Transversal Consulting, a firm that... MORE Ellen R. Wald, Ph.D. is a historian and consultant on energy and geopolitics. She is the author of Saudi, Inc., president of Transversal Consulting & a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Xaaji Xunjuf Posted October 6, 2018 Saudi Arabia can survive ‘2,000 years’ without US help & not face civil war like America – MBS Published: 6 Oct 2018 | 01:12 GMT Reuters 1 Saudi society fully supports the royals and those few fringe extremist elements who stir trouble are being dealt with, believes crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who claimed the kingdom can survive for 2,000 years on its own. Known in the West by his initials MBS, the crown prince may, as he said, ‘love’ working with the US and Trump but, when it comes to thinking of examples of successful managers of social change, he is decidedly ‘America last.’ Any drastic financial, political and legal reforms come with a hefty price tag, he emphasized, drawing parallels with the history of the United States. “...if you look at the United States of America, when for example they wanted to free the slaves. What was the price? Civil war. It divided America for a few years. Thousands, tens of thousands of people died to win freedom for the slaves,” Bin Salman told Bloomberg, in a wide-ranging interview published Friday. Read more ‘Trump humiliates Saudis’: Iran’s FM invites SA to jointly boost regional security, not outsource it “Here we are trying to get rid of extremism and terrorism without civil war, without stopping the country from growing, with continuous progress in all elements,” the crown prince added. “So if there is a small price in that area, it’s better than paying a big debt to do that move.” Two weeks? Try 2,000 years! Bin Salman brushed off US President Donald Trump’s somewhat humiliating comments about Saudi Arabia perishing within two weeks without American support, saying that his kingdom existed decades before the US and will need “something like around 2,000 years to maybe face some dangers.” “Actually, we will pay nothing for our security," the prince firmly stated, explaining that since Trump’s statements were clearly addressed to a domestic audience he did not find them offensive. “We believe that all the armaments we have from the United States of America are paid for, it’s not free armament,” he reiterated. Explaining that, after Trump became US president, Saudi Arabia has already agreed to procure nearly 60 percent of its arms from Washington, he emphasized that Riyadh owes nothing extra because it always pays for weapons supplies in cash. “I love working with him. I really like working with him,” bin Salman said of Trump, calling his comments a “one percent” disagreement between allies. Saudis aren’t scared, only 1,500 ‘extremists’ arrested in 3 years Bin Salman has been the public face of “reforms” that Riyadh has embarked on to diversify its economy and relax some of its laws – such as allowing women to drive, for example – since he became crown prince of Saudi Arabia in 2017. Read more Trump told Saudi King he wouldn’t last ‘2 weeks’ without US support Asked about discontent with the pace of those reforms and why some Saudis seem afraid to speak to journalists, bin Salman said they shouldn’t be and that only those “extremists”who organize street protests or cooperate with foreign “intelligence agencies” should fear imminent arrest. In the course of “fighting extremism, fighting terrorism” over the past three years, only “about 1,500” people have been arrested, he claimed, comparing it to 50,000 in Turkey after the attempted military coup there. Anyone shown to have “links with intelligence against Saudi Arabia or extremism or terrorists”will face Saudi law, bin Salman stated. “We have do to this. We cannot fight extremists having 500 or 700 extremists on the streets recruiting people.” He named Iran and Qatar as the main suspects. While the Salafist Saudi Kingdom has long been at odds with the predominantly Shia Islamic Republic on the other side of the Gulf, relations with Qatar have soured in recent years. Riyadh and its allies declared a blockade of the peninsular monarchy in June 2107, accusing Qatar, the owners of Al Jazeera, of secretly collaborating with Iran and of supporting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and other terrorists. The tensions show no signs of ending anytime soon. Like this story? Share it with a friend! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tillamook Posted October 6, 2018 MBS needs the revenue for his reforms, whilst Trump needs cheap oil to sustain the economic recovery that he claims to be championing. In any case, the relationship between the two countries will remain solid. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Xaaji Xunjuf Posted October 6, 2018 The Saudis and Emirates are fine for one reason only apaic said in 2017 the 2 counties we must support in the middle east are the UAE and Saudi. Qatar and the Iranians are in trouble and the poor Palestinians who lost Jerusalem. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tillamook Posted October 6, 2018 Xaaji Maalaayacni, Sol’s delusional conspiracy theorist. Have you not taken your medication this morning? I thought the topic you’d started was about Oil prices and the exchange between Trump and MbS on the media? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Xaaji Xunjuf Posted October 6, 2018 Anigu warka carabta afcarabi baan ku dhegeysta the sacaduudi channel al carabiya. Adigu u might only listen to aljazeera. Maxammad bin Salman Salman building his own dynasty to rule for the next 70 years wa hadu boqol jirka gaadho khamriga iyo xashiishada iska yareeyo. But the kid has a bright future. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tillamook Posted October 6, 2018 4 hours ago, Xaaji Xunjuf said: Anigu warka carabta afcarabi baan ku dhegeysta the sacaduudi channel al carabiya. Adigu u might only listen to aljazeera. Maxammad bin Salman Salman building his own dynasty to rule for the next 70 years wa hadu boqol jirka gaadho khamriga iyo xashiishada iska yareeyo. But the kid has a bright future. Lol@ “haduu Khamriga iyo Xashiishada Iska daayo”.. Xaaji, you’re a clown. That cracked me up...lol 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duufaan Posted October 6, 2018 Trump is right and mbc know it. He got help to get rid of his causins and confiscated their wealthy. But saudi can do nothing about the oil price unless trump lift iran and Venezuela sections. Trump knows reality but just blames Saudis and opic. The oil price will effect the world growing economy and bring back recetion to West. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Old_Observer Posted October 8, 2018 Oil is no more controlled by USA alone. And now even customers like China, Japan and India have some power over Oil business. Saudis only option is to be colony and they are doing good job of it. Now they have little competition from UAE for who can better serve America. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
