Yes and far more than the OIL market, the Obama Administration is their best bet to keep Democracy and the all that rubbish talk on Human Rgihts OUT of their Holy land!

. . . are going to support a fellow Muslim.

Like, duh.

Seriously, I would think they'd be looking first, at a candidate's potential attitude towards arms sales to the Saudis. Second, I'd guess they would be concerned about the candidate's likelihood to stir the pot with Iran. Third, they would be watching whether the candidate would be likely to antagonize the Palestinian situation.

Those are entirely evidence-free speculations, btw.

I just did a quick search and no particular study jumped out. There was an article by Bernard Haykel title "Saudi Angle on US Elections" in 2008 in the Harvard MIddle Eastern Studies Center web site. His assertion was that the royal family generally preferred Republicans except for Jimmy Carter because of his recognition of the Palestinians.

The Saudis seem to be most motivated by issues surrounding Israel and arms sales. There is no apparent connection between elections and oil production based on the literature. You are probably right that a study exists somewhere on this topic but I didn't find in my brief foray into the area.

I just did a quick search and no particular study jumped out. There was an article by Bernard Haykel title "Saudi Angle on US Elections" in 2008 in the Harvard MIddle Eastern Studies Center web site. His assertion was that the royal family generally preferred Republicans except for Jimmy Carter because of his recognition of the Palestinians.

The Saudis seem to be most motivated by issues surrounding Israel and arms sales. There is no apparent connection between elections and oil production based on the literature. You are probably right that a study exists somewhere on this topic but I didn't find in my brief foray into the area.

Two things:

First, I don't think that this is a vote. Obama and (serious) GOP candidates have similar stances on Iran. Saudi Arabia just wants its arms sales, stability, and America's blessing.

Second, this dent in oil prices is short term. Saudi Arabia does not have the ability to sustain this high rate of oil production. In addition to physically stressing production fields, it is not economically feasible (they're paying $150k+ for jackup rigs--ridiculous).

Really, the Saudis are taking a financial hit for America; it's like Amazon offering next-day shipping for free. Why? My guess is that they are worried that outrageous oil prices will spark a movement for the US to "detach" itself from its energy interests in the Persian Gulf (detaching through drilling in NA, moving away from oil, etc). If this happens, the US will feel less inclined to toss $60B to the Saudis.

The spikes coincide with Wall Street manipulation and speculation of oil commodity prices (oil futures). I seem to remember a blurb about the Saudis warning the US of manipulation of the oil market in one of the Wikileaks cables. This is a bad time for oil prices to go up for an incumbent.

Wasn't that massive drop in oil price due to the recession? I doubt even the Saudis have enough reserve capacity to intentionally drop the price by that much.

I am keeping my eye out for CNG. Natural gas prices are low. It is a good bridge to whatever comes next (electric or fuel cell). The good thing about CNG is it is not really a commodity where the price is set world wide (like oil and petrol). It is too hard to move Liquid Natural Gas around the world. Even in different regions of US the price varies by 200 or 300%. Maybe able to buy a GGE for less than a dollar in OK or little over a dollar in South KS (might cost 2-3 times that on the coasts).

There may be nothing wrong with the Volt (and other plugin hybrids from hell) except it cost $37-40K. CNG is not like that, engines cost a little more than gassers, a little less than diesels.

and to the common good, things Cheney said is that Nuclear power is an important part of our nation's energy policy.

The aftermath of the Japanese disasters has been truly unfortunate, reviving irrational fears regarding Nuclear power. Germany, in particular, acted like a bunch of posturing idiots. Fear of nuclear power seems to be a stance beloved of latter-day Luddites, not hippies- these Luddites got clout, and the general fear of any sort of danger that leads to technocratic tyrannies. The typical bureaucrat and politician cover-my-backside-at-all-costs approach enables the latter, cowardly approach to governance. Of course the OPEC nations are benefiting from this.

The Saudis are pretty shrewd, they figure Obama will win, so better to get in good with the front runner. In an ideal world we'd elect the presidential candidate who would give the Saudis conniptions- Dr. Ron Paul.

The Saudis seem to be most motivated by issues surrounding Israel and arms sales. There is no apparent connection between elections and oil production based on the literature. You are probably right that green europe a study exists somewhere on this topic but I didn't find in my brief foray into the area.