A recent drone strike against the center of Saudi Arabia’s oil production could shake the global economy and more.
The attack has suspended the production of over 5 million barrels of oil a day. Steve Cleaves worked for Saudi Aramco for over 20 years and understands how the oil fields operate. He added, with the attack, if the world oil supply price per barrel goes up it’ll reciprocate in the U.S. Meaning more money spent at the fuel pumps.
"So the only way you could stop that would be with government action," Cleaves said. "But even if we did that the price of oil overseas would be high causing a global recession. And if there’s a global recession they’re not going to be buying U.S. goods. So it would ultimately have an impact on the U.S. economy also. So this is an extremely serious situation."
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the attack. Yet, U.S. officials have their fingers pointed at Iran. President Trump even put out a tweet indicating the U.S. may retaliate. Cleaves believes that would bring on a larger conflict.
"President Trump said we’re 'locked and loaded,'" Cleaves said. "If we go into Iran and maybe hit their oil fields, I guarantee you the Shia’s in Saudi (Arabia) will support, some of them, will support further counter-attacks."
Saudi Arabia has not said what the extent of the damage is from the drone strike. Cleaves said it’s all dependent on that, on how the economy and U.S. Government respond.
