You might be missing the point, just a little. Saudi Aramco's breakeven production cost is, realistically, $40/bbl; optimistically $35/bbl. Best case scenario (for them), if the U.S. fills the SPR, it costs the Saudi's $1.4B in losses, and it props up U.S. producers. That may only last for a week, but the Saudis' cash reserves aren't infinite. They wanted to hurt Iran, drive U.S. (shale, in particular) competitors out of the market, and hurt Russia.
Agree. Genius.
Fellas,
The SPR hold 727m bbls. There are currently 635m bbls in storage. Leaves about 92m bbls of usuable space. ....which is anything but "plenty" of room.
Also, this does not "hurt" SA or Russia in any way. It just allows us to store an additional 90m bbls of oil at a cheaper price.
Can we lay off the circle jerks.
You might be missing the point, just a little. Saudi Aramco's breakeven production cost is, realistically, $40/bbl; optimistically $35/bbl. Best case scenario (for them), if the U.S. fills the SPR, it costs the Saudi's $1.4B in losses, and it props up U.S. producers. That may only last for a week, but the Saudis' cash reserves aren't infinite. They wanted to hurt Iran, drive U.S. (shale, in particular) competitors out of the market, and hurt Russia.