The same reason that DeBeers doesn’t flood the market with diamonds.
OPEC has always been about manufactured scarcity. It’s not a bad scheme, if you have a heavily concentrated, limited resource. The difference, of course, is that oil is actually useful. So might as well pump it while you can, store it where it’s easy to get and ration it out.
What is more, Saudi Arabia has 68 years of reserves at 2024’s production rate. The world will probably have stopped using hydrocarbons long before those run out. So any crude it does not pump today could be money lost forever.
Holy. FUCKING. SHIT! That is a lot of oil!
But the math doesn’t check out. The world uses about 37 billion barrels annually. Saudi Arabia has ~260 billion barrels in reserve. That’s more 7 years of global oil reserves. It would cover about 40 years of US oil use. And it would cover the modest Saudi annual useage for over 200 years. So no matter which way you slice it, the math is funky here.
Something else I just discovered. Saudi Arabia does not have the world’s largest oil reserves. That honor goes to…drumroll…yep, you guessed it. Venezuela.
Never thought of it that way!
Can “Iran fries” be a thing?
Or maybe since fries is already taken, we can rename “chili” to “Irani stew”?
Your average American is not intelligent enough to decipher the clever wordsmithing of the average journalist.
In an age where sensationalistic headlines are the norm, an understated headline can seem to lend credibility to the absurd.
This is not a problem, though. I enjoy eating popcorn and watching the world burn.
First, who the fuck is an expert on teleporting to Waffle House?
Second, why the fuck are the experts “dubious” instead of incredulous or openly condescending? JFC, c’mon experts, do better!
You are correct!
That is to say, you are right about being not right.
At the core, Hindus and Christians basically share the same philosophy on God.
In Christianity, God has three aspects. Jesus, The Holy Ghost and God. In Christianity, this is known as “The Trinity”. If you pray to Jesus, you are also praying to God and the Holy Spirit.
Similarly, ancient Hindus asserted that the essence of the deities was unitary, and the deities were nothing but pluralistic manifestations of the same concept of the divine god.
So, if a Hindi met a member of a death cult, they might think “This person is missing out SO much good stuff!” But not really - they’d probably think that Mr. Death Cult Person was a weirdo and missing the point of religion entirely.
Yeah!
<grabs popcorn>
OR…and hear me out on this…
Trump escalates the war on the premise that the US should provide safe passage to those ships. He dumps a fleet or two of ships into the Gulf, along with a trillion dollars or so for a ground war and insurance for the tankers. The US and Israel promise to keep the Gulf secure in perpetuity.
we’ll be living in a very different world. The boot of the west will come off the neck of humanity, and the rest of the world will finally have a chance to breathe.
We’re already seeing this trend and have for years - but Rome doesn’t collapse in a day.
The entire point of the petrodollar is to perpetuate the US hegemony. The entire world, including our allies, know this. The average American knows this. It’s just that Americans aren’t in agreement as to whether the current arrangement with OPEC is a net good or a net bad.
I agree, of course, that my assessment is simplified. There’s always a host of variables.
Until OPEC agrees to Iran’s demands to change to Yuan, they’ll still settle in USD. So at this point, it’s just background noise.
Yes, there are ripple effects. Yes, people will go hungry (hungrier?). Freight costs increase. Less travel. Everything that depends on that sweet, sweet crude will increase in cost.
Again, this doesn’t affect Trump and his cronies. They have money. They don’t care about the average American and they never did. They don’t care about any other citizen of the world unless that citizen is hideously wealthy AND willing to eat at the same table.
It’s outrageous, of course. But this situation didn’t just magically create itself. It’s been the norm since OPEC was formed. Our global economy depends on oil, which means every person’s well-being depends on it. The solution is energy independence, but it’s really difficult to get people excited about solar panels. They would much rather see bombs and bullets on TV.
Condensing some information for discussion here (and thanks for providing the archive link!):
It’s not clear what further tools President Donald Trump has to keep global oil prices from surging in the near term – other than fully reopening the strait.
The situation is even more extreme in liquefied natural gas. The Strait of Hormuz typically accounts for about a fifth of global supply…The US is the world’s biggest LNG exporter, and its domestic gas market is relatively insulated from the war due to its massive production.
So…why would Trump want to reopen the Straight? Keeping oil in short supply keeps the petrodollar dominant. And it increases the value of domestic oil/natural gas.
In short, Trump has no reason to ease gas prices. The effects on the upper class are minimal, and he’s shown that he absolutely does not care about the economic impact of his policies upon the working class.
A very informative article, but (as always seems to be the case with major news outlets) a bit short on analysis and clarity.
Yay, now the U.S. has its own little Gaza Genocide Jr. in the making.
Trump wants Cuba so he can name the 51st state. New Donaldton Isle? Dunno, but he wants that land just as bad as he wants a third term.
SO MUCH great information here! Bookmarked for later, so I can pick through it later and absorb all of your knowledge. Because I’m like a sponge. Or maybe more like a leech…