Just seems to me if we tell Saudi Arabia we'll only pay $20.00 a barrel, take or leave it and other oil importing countries follow suit, soon Sauid Arabia would have an excess of stored oil and the price would drop. ($20.00 was only a figure I used).
2006-07-06 08:04:57 · 7 answers · asked by Kenneth P 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Government
It all comes down to how much we need it. If you were in a desert about to thirst and starve to death and you had $100 and I told you I would give you food and water for $100 and you said, "no, $20, take it or leave it", I could just say nope and move on... I'm not the one starving, I would have all the negotiation power. The US is 'starving' for oil.
2006-07-06 08:12:18 · answer #1 · answered by tazz9555 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It boils down to who can hold out longer, those countries that produce oil or those that use oil. It's likely that Saudi Arabia, and other OPEC nations, could survive far longer on not selling oil than the US could in not buing oil. Considering that the US imports nearly 60% of the oil it uses, it wouldn't be long before our reserves were used up. Chaos would ensue as transportation ground to a halt.
2006-07-06 08:09:48 · answer #2 · answered by Shadar 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Essentially, the economic principle of supply and demand is against us on this one. We need to buy it more than they need to sell it. If we did as you suggest, they'd just watch us run out, then hike the price up again when the public had battered down the doors of the White House demanding action on the fuel crisis. Of course, technically the option of invading them and stealing all the oil we need would... well, would probably become official foreign policy then, rather than the hidden justification it is now, but people in the West probably wouldn't mind half so much about that war if it was an honest "I'm gonna take your stuff cos I need it" kinda deal.
2006-07-06 08:11:24 · answer #3 · answered by mdfalco71 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
OPEC is an oil cartel in the middel east that basically distributes the majority of the worlds oil. If they cut us off on account of price, they will out last us by a long shot.
PS An cartel means that they meat to set the price, its not a competitive market
2006-07-06 08:09:16 · answer #4 · answered by Azuzu 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the oil exporters can go without money
longer than oil importers can go without oil.
2006-07-06 08:08:42 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Simple. Supply and demand.
2006-07-06 08:07:55 · answer #6 · answered by Ender 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
umm... no we don't have enough oil to make a threat like that.
2006-07-06 08:07:09 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋