It was quite a story in April:
Prince Bandar enjoys easy access to the Oval Office. His family and the Bush family are close. And Woodward told 60 Minutes that Bandar has promised the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election — to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on election day.
Woodward says that Bandar understood that economic conditions were key before a presidential election: “They’re [oil prices] high. And they could go down very quickly. That’s the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly.”
Well, let’s see, we’re in the middle of the summer, we’re about three months from the election, and sure enough, Bush’s friends appear ready to go to bat for him.
From the AP:
Saudi Arabia sought to calm turbulent oil markets yesterday by offering to boost production, but after an initial drop in prices the cost of oil rose again by day’s end.
From CBS:
Saudi Arabia claim[ed] Wednesday that it could “immediately” boost its oil production by 1.3 million barrels a day…