Simon Henderson is the Baker Senior Fellow and director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at The Washington Institute, specializing in energy matters and the conservative Arab states of the Persian Gulf.
Articles & Testimony
The president’s latest statements on OPEC and the possibility of U.S. tariffs are ambiguous, but they suggest his growing exasperation with Moscow and Riyadh.
It could be a multi-part, online action thriller of the type so many of us have turned to in these days of social isolation. But it is real life — “it” is the oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, which began four weeks ago. Each country is seeking to preserve a dominant market share in what is essentially a game of bluff. Like any particularly watchable television, the main characters are the backbone of the series: Russian President Vladimir Putin versus Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. President Trump has yet to play a leading role, but this is likely to change this week, probably as a consequence of a further dip in oil prices despite last week’s partial recovery...
