OPEC (plus Russia) is meeting in Baku this weekend, and the Saudis are playing a delicate balancing act—not only disappointed in Trump’s less aggressive tactics against Iran, but also disappointed in the effects of the attack the Kingdom orchestrated against Qatar, which has managed to survive the embargo quite well and is now threatening to one-up the Saudis by getting into the US shale patch and by bumping up its already massive LNG offerings. All of this has an effect on what the Saudis end up doing to influence oil prices. They aren’t feeling particularly generous with Trump, who would like to keep oil prices low. The Saudis need about $80 a barrel to fund their economic diversification, pay for the war in Yemen and all the expensive PR that is necessary to get MBS over the very badly executed murder of a critic, journalist Jamal Khashoggi. As far […]