The oil price is up by more than 40 per cent since the start of the year. It is being driven up by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the lack of investment in oil and turning the world economy on and off again: US production is still not back to pre-pandemic levels. In the immediate term, as I say in the Times today, pretty much the only way to bring the price down is to get Saudi Arabia – which has 1.5 to 2 million barrels a day of spare capacity – to pump more.
The West’s relationship with Saudi Arabia has always been morally problematic. The justification for it, despite Riyadh’s appalling record on human rights and its role spreading Salafist Islamist ideology, is that we cannot afford to have the kingdom as an enemy: its friendship is essential to economic stability.
Boris Johnson’s government has cultivated relations with Saudi Arabia: no G7 country has better links with the crown prince
Yet Saudi Arabia isn’t inclined to help the West at the moment; Mohammed bin Salman is not even taking Joe Biden’s call.
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