Saudi Arabia Walks Out on OPEC.

There is a new news item posted at »ASE Labs

»Saudi Arabia Walks Out on OPEC.

After OPEC's announcement that they were going to essentially force gasoline prices back up after the drops they have been having, Saudi Arabia (the most powerful member of the group) pulled out of the organization.

Quote

Saudi Arabia walked out on OPEC yesterday. It said it would not honor the cartel's production cut. It was tired of rants from Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the well-dressed oil minister from Iran.

As the world's largest crude exporter, the kingdom in the desert took its ball and went home.

As the Saudis left the building the message was shockingly clear. According to The New York Times, “Saudi Arabia will meet the market’s demand,” a senior OPEC delegate said. “We will see what the market requires and we will not leave a customer without oil."

Linky.

This is huge for a couple of reasons. Not only does the announcement show that gas prices weren't being subsidized to garner support for the November elections like many thought, but it also means that the group that held a stranglehold over oil production since the 1970s may be done for.

I do wonder, however, if there is more to this than it seems.

Please add your comments below.

It is done for.

I'm actually impressed with the US government on this. They had a hand in doing it. Now we just need to remember that oil is still the problem and alternative energy sources ARE the solution.

We had the same problem in the 70s and nothing happened after oil prices went back down. This might be a repeat of that. Hopefully not, though.

Edit: Is this source credible? Or is it another random "blog" that spews garbage?

I don't actually know. It is fact that the Saudis refused to follow the OPEC fuel limit. Many papers reported it. However, I cannot find anything regarding whether the Saudis actually left OPEC.