The current oil glut in the world is no accident and is not just a function of supply and demand, an oil expert has said.

Jon Hoffmeister, former president of Shell Oil, says the world is awash in cheap oil because the leaders of Saudi Arabia are afraid of Iran and Russia, according to a report posted on Thursday on the KABC website.
“They were so sick and tired of the abdication of leadership by the United States in the Middle East that they took things into their own hands,” said Hofmeister, the author of “Why We Hate Oil Companies: Straight Talk from an Energy Insider.”  

Hoffmeister, a guest on 790 KABC’s McIntyre in the Morning Show, added, “They (Saudis) only have one weapon in the world: that’s oil prices.  And they had to do something to stop Iran and to stop Russia from growing in power and influence in the Middle East.

“And potentially by crippling their economies through the low oil prices, Russia and Iran would succumb and they would be less determined to pull off whatever they’re trying to do in the Middle East,” he noted.