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...or any country that wants to see the United States drawn into a proxy war for one of its client states in the Middle East. Or a country that wants to see oil
by alrs 7y ago
...or any country that wants to see the United States drawn into a proxy war for one of its client states in the Middle East. Or a country that wants to see oil prices rise in the short-term. Or a a country that wants to make European dependence on Saudi oil untenable, and put an end to the US sanctions regime.
The US is now the world's largest oil exporter, so a limited confrontation that leads to picking up slack in the global oil market and selling more arms to Saudi Arabia is very much in its interest.
It could be Iran, it could be others. It could be Iran and others, which is likely, because Iran doesn't have much money to spend right now.
- rapsey 7y agoOnly Russia is an alternative but I highly doubt they would do it. They would not go against SA and they have always kept Iran at a distance.
- alrs 7y agoI think the only suspects you can take off the list are oil-importing US client states and the LDCs of the global south. The unipolar moment is over, a Great Game is again afoot.
- audiometry 7y agoUSA is not the largest exporter of oil at all. It scarcely exceeds 3mn/d. Saudi exports 7.0 currently and that’s restraining themselves.
- rapsey 7y agoIt is right up there with SA. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-12/u-s-beats-saudi-arabia-to-become-top-oil-exporter-on-shale-boom https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-12/u-s-beats...
- audiometry 7y agoWell if you include NGLs ok (natural gas liquids). But not if you talk about crude oil, which is the valuable thing. NGL is waste product almost.
- fspeech 7y agoYou need to look at the numbers on a net basis: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2018/12/09/no-the-u-s-is-not-a-net-exporter-of-crude-oil/#1a57e1fc4ac1 https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2018/12/09/no-the-u-s-i...
- audiometry 7y agoYou can downvote me, but a bunch of US butane exports not going replace lost Arab medium, heavy crude.