Indeed, over the past 25 years, Saudi oil policy has generally helped to prevent price spikes and tended to hold prices down with periodic large production increases. Yet, due to Saudi domestic economic concerns, the dynamics of the old game are about to change. The Saudi regime has finally realised that oil wealth is not an eternal fountain. Production planning is now being governed less by strategic geo-political considerations and more by economic need. Saudi oil policy is primarily driven by the immediate revenue needs of a government struggling to maintain a welfare state designed in the 1970s, when money seemed limitless and the population was small.
More revenue needs to be generated and devoted to developing the domestic market.
Yet, any rise in the price of crude carries with it the risk of conflict with the United States. He is the first Arab to head the chamber since its establishment in 1951, and the organisation's eighth president. Osman's predecessor, Rudi Stoecker, held the position for eight years. The board is made up of seven Egyptian members and an equivalent number of German members, in addition to an executive director. The work will be conducted in collaboration with Honeywell International, an American provider of automation solutions and power generation equipment.