Marvin Gandall wrote:
So perhaps there is something to the speculation by yourself and others about US/Saudi price manipulation, though I'm still inclined to see it as a case of oil conditions coinciding with the foreign policy objectives of the Bush administration until shown otherwise.
. The Saudis openly admitted to "opening the taps" in the days after 911 at the behest of the US adminstration. It was the meeting between al-Bandar and Bush shown in Farenheit 911 where that deal was cut. However, one of their oil ministry officials stated that if ALL Americans had decided to fill their car gas tanks from the customary half-tank to full, as many do in times of disaster, the Saudi supply would NOT have kept up. That information came from the End of Oil by Paul Roberts and just goes to show that the Saudi's ability to "supply cleanse" on large, or even mid-term scale is extremely limited, and more likely to be the cause of the volatility we claim to want to inhibit, rather than a cure. Leigh
