Low-Grade Markets, Oil Subsidies

[Karl Davies]

Karl Davies wrote:

> I read somewhere that a considerable part of US foreign policy is oriented
> towards keeping crude oil prices at $18 per barrel.  Go below that value, and
> the oil monarchies don't have enough cash to buy off their "citizens."  Go above
> that value, and conservation and alternative fuels become economic.  If you go
> to http://www.wtrg.com/prices.htm, you'll see that the real price of crude oil
> has been just above $18 per barrel for the past 25 years.

I found that reference and OCR'd it.  It was Daniel Yergin in The Prize: The Epic
Quest for Oil, Money, and Power.  See
http://www.daviesand.com/Perspectives/Forest_Products/Oil_Subsidies/_18_Crude/.