Saudi King passes away

Jan 22 2015, 19:30 ET |
By: Stephen Alpher, SA News Editor


Saudi Arabia King Abdullah has died at about the age of 91, according to the royal court. Crown Prince Salman - 79 years old and Abdullah's half-brother - has been declared king, and Prince Muqrin Crown Prince.

Stability was key for Abdullah, and he was seen as a bulwark against both the democratic and Islamist movements spreading across the Arab world. His immediate successor(s) are seen as conservative as he was, or more.

WTI crude oil is up 2.3% in evening trade to $47.37 per barrel. USO +1.95% after hours.

Third thread.

Interesting the play of money, Roalty , the working man and the rest of the pesants and pissed on people.
I don't hate the oil companies. They do a great job of getting oil and gas to us. It is just the way we all seem to get F'ed I the end.
A dead Saudi, Oh well.

Ernie

Islamic militants celebrate Saudi king's Death

January 23, 2015


In this Tuesday, May 11, 2010 file photo, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz, salutes
as he arrives to the opening of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) consultative summit
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. On early Friday, Jan. 23, 2015, Saudi state TV reported King
Abdullah died at the age of 90.

BEIRUT (AP) � Islamic militants and their supporters celebrated the death of Saudi King Abdullah on social media Friday, many of them describing him as a "servant" of the Americans who conspired with the West to kill Muslims.

Abdullah, who died at the age of 90, began battling al-Qaida militants around a decade ago when extremists launched a string of attacks in the kingdom aimed at toppling the monarchy. Backed by the kingdom's top ally, the United States, Saudi officials responded with a massive crackdown and has imprisoned suspected militants and sentenced others to death.

Many Islamic extremists consider the Saudi royal family to be corrupt. The Islamic State group, an al-Qaida breakaway group that currently holds a third of Iraq and Syria, often cites Islam's holiest city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, as one of its targets. Saudi Arabia is also part of a U.S.-led coalition targeting the Islamic State group in airstrikes.

A man who identifies himself as an Islamic State supporter who uses the name Abu Azzam al-Najdi criticized the late king on Twitter, saying: "He sent his warplanes to kill Muslims in (Syria). He imprisoned Muslim men and women and wherever there was a war against jihadis, he was the first."

Some loyalists of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group also used a hashtag that translate from Arabic into "Death of a Tyrant."

Social media provides a forum for militants and their supporters to air their statements and propaganda videos. Such users typically do not give their full names, if at all, using instead nicknames and pseudonyms.

A jihadi supporter who identifies himself by the name of Omar wrote in English: "The dog that was occupying (the land of the two holy shrines) has finally kicked the bucket, no Bush or Obama to save you from Allah."

One user posted a photo illustration of King Abdullah wearing an orange uniform as a masked man stood behind him carrying a knife to behead him.

"We don't want him to die. We want to slaughter him this way," the post said, referring to Saudi Arabia's tradition of beheading criminals.


In this March 23, 2010 file photo, King Abdullah, center, of Saudi Arabia surround by Saudi top princes holds his
sword as he takes part in the traditional Arda dance, or War dance, during the Janadriyah Festival of Heritage
and Culture on the outskirts of Riyadh. On early Friday, Jan. 23, 2015

Death of Saudi king unsettles oil market, prices rise

BY JONATHAN FAHEY and YOUKYUNG LEE
07:07 AM ET
Investors.com

NEW YORK (AP) � Oil prices rose on news of the death of Saudi Arabia's powerful King Abdullah, but the increase is likely to be short-lived without a cut in the kingdom's immense crude production.

The benchmark U.S. crude futures contract was up 71 cents to $47.02 a barrel at 0725 GMT on Friday. Brent crude, an international benchmark, was up 92 cents to $49.42 a barrel.

The small rise reflects added uncertainty about Saudi oil policy because the country's new absolute monarch, Abdullah's 79-year-old half brother Prince Salman, is in poor health.

"It is necessary to stay watchful about Saudi politics," said Oh Jeong-seok, head of commodity markets at state-run Korea Center for International Finance. "As he is nearly 80 years old and his health isn't in good condition, that itself is uncertain. The price of oil goes up when there is an uncertainty."

Still, the months-long slump in oil prices that is providing a boost to the stumbling world economy is unlikely to reverse unless Saudi Arabia cuts production or world demand starts strengthening again. Some analysts think Saudi production won't be lowered anytime soon because the country wants to maintain its market share.

Oil prices have plummeted nearly 60 percent since June. Global supplies have soared, thanks partly to a boom in U.S. shale oil production, at a time when growth in global demand for crude has slowed.

Saudi Arabia occupies a unique position in world oil markets. It is one of the world's biggest producers, it has the strongest voice within OPEC as its largest exporter, and it is the only oil producer that has the ability to significantly increase or decrease output in response to changing market conditions.

Despite a big drop in oil revenue, Saudi Arabia has declined to cut production on its own or back a cut by OPEC in an effort to reverse the price decline. The country produced 9.6 million barrels a day in January, according to Platts, the energy information division of McGraw Hill. That's enough to satisfy 11 percent of global demand.

The question now is whether Abdullah's successor Prince Salman will change the kingdom's oil policy.

Saudi oil minister Ali Al-Naimi has expressed a desire to retire, but he is expected to stay on at least through OPEC's next scheduled meeting, in June.

"Naimi is a market-calming voice, and very well-respected," said Frank Verrastro of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Naimi will likely stay on during this period of uncertainty."

Salman's son is the country's deputy oil minister, but Verrastro said it's unlikely he will replace Naimi because Saudi Arabia does not have a history of naming members of the royal family to that position.

Larry Goldstein, a veteran oil adviser at the Energy Policy Research Foundation, said he expects that, if anything, the king's death could delay any decision by Saudi Arabia on whether to cut production or back an OPEC cut. That would help keep oil prices low.

"Continuity and stability is what they will be looking for," he said.

the Saudis are NOT 'our friends'. They are only marginally 'allies'. Saudi Arabia funded the 9/11 attack, and have supported every terrorist group. Osama Bin Laden was Saudi.........

Good news: Saudi Arabia�s new king nearly 80-years-old, suffers with dementia
posted on HOT AIR January 23, 2015 by Noah Rothman