Wikileaks: Saudis often Warned U.S. about Oil price speculators (i.e. manipulators)

[Bill USA]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/05/25/114759/wikileaks-saudis-often-warned.html


WASHINGTON — When oil prices hit a record $147 a barrel in July 2008, the Bush administration leaned on Saudi Arabia to pump more crude in hopes that a flood of new crude would drive the price down. The Saudis complied, but not before warning that oil already was plentiful and that Wall Street speculation, not a shortage of oil, was driving up prices (my emphasis_Bill USA).

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al Naimi even told U.S. Ambassador Ford Fraker that the kingdom would have difficulty finding customers for the additional crude, according to an account laid out in a confidential State Department cable dated Sept. 28, 2008,

"Saudi Arabia can't just put crude out on the market," the cable quotes Naimi as saying. Instead, Naimi suggested, "speculators bore significant responsibility for the sharp increase in oil prices in the last few years," according to the cable.

What role Wall Street investors play in the high cost of oil is a hotly debated topic in Washington. Despite weak demand, the price of a barrel of crude oil surged more than 25 percent in the past year, reaching a peak of $113 May 2 before falling back to a range of $95 to $100 a barrel.
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Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/05/25/114759/wikileaks-saudis-often-warned.html#ixzz1NU75v2C1


Wikileaks could be saying: "How do you like me NOW?"

[sudopod]

1. WINNING nt

[kysrsoze]

2. Like we didn't all know that. Of course, acknowledging it is another thing.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Free Market?

How is George Bush pulling strings to pump more oil free market? Isn't that interference? Wouldn't a smarter approach have been an education program to warn the public that Wall Street was fugging with people's heads? Wouldn't that have been the correct role of government?

[ArcticFox]

4. I don't know what government you're living under

But when my government sees the opportunity to let speculators sell more of a commodity at an inflated price, it takes it.

[Bill USA]

5. Bush did have influence with Saudis re oil prices (short term adjustments) but not when

speculators were hoarding the product.


http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=68175 quoted from Reuters...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, promised President Bush the Saudis would cut oil prices before November to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on election day, journalist Bob Woodward said in a television interview Sunday.

In an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" about his new book "Plan of Attack" on the Bush administration's preparations for the Iraq war, Woodward, a senior editor at the Washington Post, said Prince Bandar pledged the Saudi's would try to fine-tune oil prices to prime the U.S. economy for the election -- a move they understood would favor Bush's re-election.

Questioned about his assertion at a time when oil prices are nearing a 13-year high, Woodward responded:

"They're high. And they could go down very quickly. That's the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the summer or as we get closer to the election they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly."
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...and...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4779686/ns/business-oil_and_energy/t/did-saudis-assure-bush-oil-prices/">Did the Saudis assure Bush re Oil prices before election? - MSNBC

The White House Monday declined to comment on a report in a new book by journalist Bob Woodward that a Saudi Arabian ambassador had promised the Bush administration that it would lower oil prices to help boost the U.S. economy in time for the November presidential election.
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... these are provided to show Bush could and did exercise influence with the Saudis re short term oil price adjustments .. unless, as OP article indicates, the Saudis contended that they really could not affect the supply much when speculators were hoarding oil to keep the inventory of oil lower to drive up prices.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/world/middleeast/16prexy.html">..Bush Prods Saudi Arabia on Oil Prices

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Bush on Tuesday urged Saudi Arabia and other members of OPEC to consider the strain the high cost of oil was having on the American economy, addressing an issue that has begun to color the last year of his presidency and dominate the presidential election campaign.


....Mr. Naimi said Saudi Arabia would raise production only “when the market justifies it.”
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as the OP indicates, the Saudi's were contending there was no real shortage of product but a simulated shortage produced by hoarding by speculators like Goldman Sachs.