Professor Joshua Landis is the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at The University of Oklahoma. Prof. Landis joins The Stock Podcast to discuss the recent Saudi oil attack. On Sept. 14, 2019, the world awoke to the news that numerous drones and scud missiles hit Abqaiq, the world’s largest oil processing facility. The attack resulted in 5.7 million barrels of oil production capacity going offline, which equates to about 6% of global oil production. The event was the single largest loss of Saudi oil production in history. Immediately after the attack, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi‘s claimed responsibility. However, Prof. Landis is convinced that Iran is ultimately responsible, and the country with the most to gain from an attack on Saudi oil infrastructure. In this interview, Prof. Landis also provides an explanation as to the strategic significance of Saudi oil and the Persian Gulf to the broader geopolitical interests of the US.
Saudi oil production capacity sits at close to 12 million barrels per day. The Abqaiq oil processing facility makes up roughly half of the kingdom’s total capacity. Prof. Landis argues that the Saudi oil attack was Iran’s response to additional sanctions imposed by the US following the abandonment of the Iran nuclear accord – sanctions that are viewed by Iranian politicians as tantamount to regime change. In that sense, the Trump administration only has itself to blame.
This episode is part 2 of a two-part mini-series on Saudi oil, capacity reserves, and oil supply. Be sure to listen to part 1 with oil market analyst Mike Rothman. Also, if you enjoyed this conversation with Prof. Landis, check out the previous interview where we discussed the US decision to abandon the Iran nuclear accord.
If you’d like to learn more about Prof. Landis you can follow him on Twitter and you should definitely check out his blog Syria Comment.
