Saudi Arabia Points the Oil Weapon at Itself
A feud with the U.S. is no way to protect market share or pitch an Aramco IPO.
Mohammed bin Salman should watch where he points that thing.
Photographer: Bandar al-Jaloud/AFP/Getty Images
“Nice global economy you’ve got there; shame if something should happen to it” is not a great pitch for oil and definitely not for the IPO of Saudi Aramco.
The best that can be said about Saudi Arabia’s gossamer-veiled threat of retaliation for any punishment over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is that it’s probably mere posturing. On Sunday, the foreign ministry put out a statement emphasizing the country “has an influential and vital role in the global economy.” (They’re talking about oil.) But by Monday, the country’s oil minister was making soothing noises about keeping the market stable, and the king had ordered an investigation into Khashoggi’s fate. Because actually using, or even seriously threatening to use, the oil weapon would be a self-own of colossal proportions.