Saudi Arabia

In a move that could shake up the dynamics of the global oil and gas industry, the desert Kingdom is restructuring its national oil company, Saudi Aramco.

Over the weekend, a major shift in the balance of power in Iraq took place when Islamic State forces seized the key Iraqi state of Ramadi.  It took barely one day for the neoconservative cries for an aggressive and powerful response when overnight Kimberly Kagan's hawkish think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, came out with its assessment which was at least partially right that "Obama's strategy against the Islamic State in ruins not only in Iraq but also throughout the Muslim world."

If you happen to be particularly adept at wielding a sword and believe strongly that stiff penalties for crime play an important role in deterring future misdeeds, you might consider joining Saudi Arabia’s Ministry Of Civil Service as a “Perpetrator Of Retribution.”

When it comes to spectacularly bad foreign policy outcomes, the US is on an incredible run lately even by its own lofty standards. In the latest example of US meddling gone horribly wrong, Mohammed Morsi — the former Egyptian President who was “democratically” elected following mass protests against Hosni Mubarak — was sentenced to death on Saturday.

One of the ways that the U.S. government most clearly expresses its deep dedication to global human rights, democracy and decency across the globe is via its unwavering support for the feudal, inhumane tyrannical monarchy of Saudi Arabia. In a punishment known as “crucifixion,” the executed person’s beheaded body is placed on public display for three days. Currently facing this fate are three political activists, including two children.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi may be one of the most powerful individuals in the global oil industry. But for all his power, is he the most ingenious? That question arises from the release of two reports on the current state of the oil industry that look at whether or not OPEC’s strategy of forcing US shale to cut back is succeeding.

Days after Obama's official account of the May 2011 bin Laden execution had been severely jeopardized by Seymour Hersh's latest report, and when even official media outlets were forced to admit the White House's story was fabricated before being forced to retract, overnight the administration served its latest distraction to the American people when first thing this morning the press was ablaze with reports that US commandos had raided the eastern Syria town of al-Amr, where they killed a senior Islamic State commander, identified as one Abu Sayyaf, ISIS' "oil minister" in charge of the Islamic State's oil and gas operations.

Having been 'snubbed' by the new Saudi King Salman, it appears the uneasy relationshipo with our 'allies' in The Gulf is ebbing. In what the State Department will, we are sure, just brush off, Politico reports that the king of Bahrain has apparently also snubbed President Barack Obama, preferring instead to attend a horse show with Queen Elizabeth. 

Yesterday, the FT reported that Saudi Arabia gloated in declaring victory over US shale. “There is no doubt about it, the price fall of the last several months has deterred investors away from expensive oil including US shale, deep offshore and heavy oils,” a Saudi official told the Financial Times in Riyadh, giving a rare insight into the kingdom’s thinking on oil strategy. Which is great, but there are two problems. First, any time someone say "there is no doubt about it", or "unambiguously this or that", it is a lie. Second, Saudi Arabia is dead wrong.

Want to know where the USD is headed? Call Riyadh!

History has been so fascinated with oil and its price movements that it is indeed hard to imagine our future without oil. The world is still myopic when it comes to energy. Yes, it wants to embrace renewables but not at the cost of oil. Whatever happens to oil prices in the coming years, one thing is certain: that the age of oil isn’t ending anytime soon, at least not in the next 30 years.

The Iranian Navy is escorting Yemen-bound ships which Tehran says are carrying humanitarian aid for those caught in the crossfire between the Houthis and the Saudis. Given 'coalition' suspicions surrounding the possibility that Iran is arming militiamen, expect the US to be very interested in inspecting the aid vessels, setting the stage for a possible "accident" off the war-torn country's coast.

As Barclays recently noted, there is a complete decoupling between futures and physical markets for crude oil and nowhere is that more evident than the high volume spike in crude that just happened after Saudi Arabia boosted crude production for a second month to the highest level in at least three decades, helping to raise OPEC output as U.S. growth showed signs of slowing.

"The White House’s story might have been written by Lewis Carroll: would bin Laden, target of a massive international manhunt, really decide that a resort town forty miles from Islamabad would be the safest place to live and command al-Qaida’s operations? It was inevitable that the Obama administration’s lies, misstatements and betrayals would create a backlash... High-level lying nevertheless remains the modus operandi of US policy, along with secret prisons, drone attacks, Special Forces night raids, bypassing the chain of command, and cutting out those who might say no." - Seymour Hersh