Al. Quite a long time back I read a very good paper(I think it...

Al. Quite a long time back I read a very good paper(I think it was in The Economist) on who calls the shots in oil pricing as far as producers are concerned. OPEC then controlled over 50% of production (this control must surely be down to 45% by now,perhaps even lower).
The author left me in no doubt that the Saudis dominated the price that Opec members then wanted for their oil,and I suspect that they still do.Saudi Arabia was,and Im sure still is,easily the most West-friendly Opec producer and has a reputation for continually moderating demands from smaller Opec producers who ,it was stated, would tend to take a shorter-term,more self-interested view of what they should receive for their oil.
Im pleased to see you report that the Saudis now have a stated band for pricing whose top figure starts with a 9- I wouldnt mind a dollar for every time Ive seen a top figure of $80 attributed to the Saudi oil minister in the last few years.
If the Saudis say $90 is top of the band now that is good news to CVNers and unless the Saudis have become a toothless tiger (doubtful) then $90 here we come (we are almost there now-what we need to know is that the Saudis arent going to knock it back towards the recently breached $80 figure because I believe the Saudis still have a lot of clout in setting world oil prices). Cheers