In contrast, in general, the oil-consuming nations have shown little appreciation of the need for fairness to oil producers as well as consumers. When the price has fallen to absurdly low levels (e.g. US$10 a barrel), thereby threatening the economic life not only of countries such as Saudi Arabia but all the developing nations where Saudi funds are helping to improve economic conditions, the consuming nations have simply enjoyed the benefits of cheap energy, encouraged by Western media praise for the market mechanism that has humbled the oil producers. When, on the other hand, the price of oil has risen, then suddenly the oil-consuming nations find their voice and use it to express considerable reservations about market mechanisms and to urge management of the oil market to bring the price down. The high price is widely presented as a threat to the global economy; whereas the threat posed by the low price to the oil producers is seemingly of little account.
(To see the effect of fluctuations in the oil price on the Saudi economy, click here.)
