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Russia seeks to topple Saudi Arabia as leading oil producer
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SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, February 4, 2002
WASHINGTON Ñ Russia and Saudi Arabia are battling each other for the
role of the world's energy leader.
The battle could determine the future of the global oil and natural gas
market.
U.S. analysts said Russia has refused to follow OPEC decisions to cut
oil production in what appears to be an effort by Moscow to increase its
role in the energy market and whittle away the influence of its Saudi rival.
On Jan. 1, OPEC reduced output by another 1.5 million barrels per day to
stave off a price collapse, Middle East Newsline reported.
"This battle will have fundamental consequences for the world's economy,
U.S. energy security, Russia's global role, the future relevance of Saudi
Arabia, and the clout of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries,"
Edward Morse, a former U.S. State Department official and oil consultant,
writes in the March/April issue of the Foreign Affairs.
Morse said Russia can flood the oil market regardless of OPEC decisions.
He said the casualties in that policy will be Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other
oil producers with state monpoly companies that disallow foreign investment.
"The only oil not threatened by Russia's rise is the petroleum developed
by international companies outside of the key OPEC countries of the Middle
East," Morse writes.
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