Oil became politicised when cars became commonly used and remains so now as political leaders in some countries endeavour to force the use of alternative, supposedly less polluting fuel sources and those in others depend on oil to keep them in power. This is causing severe tensions, including cultural clashes within and among countries, that make it difficult to find a way forward for oil prices and thus investments in the oil industry. In this article, I have added links to points that aided me to explore a likely way ahead for the medium term. Some of these I found in the Financial Times and it owns the copyright to those linked articles.
Supplier politics vs. practical outcomes
As I did with my first article in February 2016 Light at the end of the oil price tunnel, I shall start with Saudi Arabia - KSA. I said that it had "shot itself in the foot" by declaring war on US shale producers. That remains as valid today as then because having lost some initial battles those producers have emerged as winners of the war. There is a frequent dripping of news from KSA that point to severe withdrawal symptoms as the new Crown Prince tries to wean the country off its addiction to oil money and as the effects of low oil prices continue to drain the nation's financial reserves.
