Saudi Arabia’s hard choices on oil and regional influence - FT.com:
"The year 2015 is not going well for Saudi Arabia. The attempts of King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and his son Prince Mohammed bin Salman — who, not quite 30, is not just deputy crown prince and chief of the Royal Court but also defence minister and chairman of the supreme council of state oil company Aramco — to assert their authority in the region and in the oil market are failing.
Barack Obama, US president, pointedly overrode Saudi concerns to reach a deal with Iran that is already transforming the regional balance of power. Concerns about Iranian influence led Saudi Arabia to intervene in Yemen, but the ill-conceived air campaign has achieved little beyond demonstrating the limitations of the Saudi military. The result is a humanitarian disaster with Houthi forces still in control of much of the north of Yemen.
Worst of all, perhaps, the US shale industry has not followed the script by obediently cutting back production as prices have fallen. On the contrary, costs have been cut and production this year will be higher than in 2014. Elsewhere, other producers have increased oil output to raise revenue. The price is back to $50 a barrel and falling."
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