We want to be green so we're trying to stop drilling for oil. But we also need oil because our society runs on it. This guy has oil. This guy can therefore do whatever he likes.
This is obviously way better than drilling at home.
This is obviously way better than drilling at home.
Please stop repeating twitter talking points until they become truth.
There's lots of guys who had oil who, when they did things the US didn't like, found themselves without anyone to sell oil to, without a country to run or maybe worse.
I agree KSA has a special relationship with the US (and much of the west), but it's not just about oil.
There's much more opportunity for political activism when pipes go over lots of small pieces of land vs drilling one big piece of land.
The US produces a ton of oil, we also have no export restrictions on oil products, so no matter how much we produce domestically, we are still dependent on the swings of the global market.
We get close to no oil from Saudi, yet as the head of the most powerful cartel in the world, they have immense power and influence. No amount of “drill baby drill” is going to change that.
Reality is that we have lots of tools to address bad actors. There are always consequences, true enough. But it isn't like we haven't used them.
In this case, we probably won't, but the Saudis are increasingly more trouble than they are worth.
The article explains that as head of state internal law grants him immunity.
In 2021, it also happened to be a net exporter or petroleum overall, but usually it bounces around.
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-and-petroleum-produc...
Saudi Arabia is key in keeping global energy prices lower by increasing global supply, and is also a key ally in a historically unstable region which impacts those prices.
The key to keeping energy prices low for the US is to stop giving away our oil and then focus on shifting our economy to an energy source that can't be manipulated by foreign powers trying to influence our elections.
Petroleum is ~ 8% of the US GDP, and produces about $1.7 trillion dollars a year in direct economic activity, employing about 10 million folks.
Near as I can tell, the US doesn't give away any of our oil at all. It sells it, at market rate, often after doing a lot of value add refining.
Some of it goes to domestic use, some of it gets exported internationally, depending on the specific mix of market demands at the moment.
Are you proposing the US... ban exports of Oil or oil products? Or ban imports or Oil or oil products? Or invest a lot of money in alternative energy/renewable energy? Or take over enough oil producing countries no one can manipulate prices except us?
Or something else?
https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-fossil-fuel-subs...
Of course, those are written subsidies. There is the major subsidy of allowing them to drill for oil on the publics land.
Of course, we've massively increased the amount of drilling we've allowed do the drum beat of "energy independence", when the reality is that because the oil is privately owned, no amount of oil drilling will actually make the price of gasoline stable or cheap for consumers.
What we actually need to do is move away from a gasoline based economy, but until then the government should heavily tax exports of oil to discourage foreign-owned companies from exporting it while we have a shortage here. Oil and gas lobbyist have been using their corporate owned politicians in Congress to block moving to sustainable energy since the Carter administration. We need massive investment in sustainable energy and energy efficient transit and manufacturing.
But we wont. The price of gas will go down again. Americans will buy even bigger cars, and then cry when OPEC jacks the price up again.
they were until democrats spent their last two presidencies trying to fund and justify the nuclear research of SA's biggest regional rival who is already funding catspaw wars against SA - Iran.
Then when you ask them to lower the price of oil they wonder why you've spent multiple years working against them while coming now to beg for their kindness.
It's the worst kind of political delerium - funding you enemies and your ally's enemies and then wondering why your allies aren't "reliable" - hint its you not being reliable while you're funding their enemies and trying to excuse their nuclear weapon program. Its the US that was a fickle ally.
All of the major players in that region are motivated by religious ideology, including US allies.
You also seem to be confused, the JCPOA actively halted their nuclear weapons program, which was all that it intended to do, not “make iran into a friend”. Hawks like yourself are the ones who have set everything back.
The US should be less involved in the region. Seeking to balance power between Iran, Saudi and Israel rather than actively getting in the middle of their conflicts.