Saudi minister: Oh, you need oil? We have oil.

The Saudi oil minister acted surprised that the world needs more oil and said that, sure they can pump more if the world needs oil. (AP/NY Times link);

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister says the kingdom is willing to produce more oil if customers need it, but he cited no specific production increase.

The kingdom will pump about 9.7 million barrels a day beginning in July because of recent increases already announced.

But Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi says it can produce more than 9.7 million a day if customers request it.

I don’t suppose he got antsy because of the discussion in the US about tapping our own resources. 76% of Americans now favor drilling off our coasts and venturing into ANWR, despite the those 24% who are Luddites and are savoring  our current morass.

Luckily, two years ago President Bush authorized exploration in ANWR in anticipation of this crisis. Also lucky is that Jimmy Carter formed the Energy Department which has a stated purpose of cutting through red tape to build pipelines and refineries. Now let’s see if the Energy Department can fulfill it’s stated mission.

Obama claimed the other day that drilling now wouldn’t do anything to solve the problem, but just having the discussion has influenced the Saudis to pump more. Imagine what will happen when we actually start drilling, pumping and refining our own fuels and declare ourselves less beholden to foreign producers.

Category: Economy, Foreign Policy, Politics