Barney , Yes a "perceived glut" but no doubt aided and abetted...

Barney ,

Yes a "perceived glut" but no doubt aided and abetted by the likes of Goldman Sachs .

I'm unsure this is about Saudi and U.S. shale . Russia , Iran and Venezuela suffer and do not have diversified economies .

The economics of U.S. shale are better than a lot of offshore deepwater and the North Sea .

If it had of been a simple Saudi-US thing wouldn't the Saudi's have shorted U.S. shalers and oil companies generally .... and perhaps even turn buyers at some stage in the future ?

Would Saudi really be brave/stupid enough to twist the U.S.'s tale and risk retribution in some other form ?

Or do they just want the U.S. to deal with Iranian nuclear ambition for them or to send a message not to build Keystone XL ?

The U.S. have stated energy independence as an AIM . Independence and security have a cost attached to them . I can't see the U.S. giving up either .

Regardless of the politics , wouldn't this be ironic if it forced U.S. shalers to innovate and they came up with a way for instance to increase recovery factors of tight oil ?