Tom Bower talks to Ali al-Naimi, the Saudi oil minister, at Opec’s meeting and is struck by how this master manipulator escapes censure in the great oil blame game
Speculators are back in favour, especially the fund managers bidding up the price of oil. Cursed last year for tipping the world into recession, the same traders are now praised by some for once again betting on rising prices. Last year’s sinners are now cast as the Good Samaritans.
The conductor of that topsy-turvy world is Ali al-Naimi, the Saudi oil minister. Choosing his words carefully as he walked through the centre of Vienna towards last week’s Opec meeting, the 75-year-old geologist smiled enigmatically about the speculators: ‘I’m not concerned.’ The opposite is the truth. The 5ft tall former shepherd boy turned Master of the Universe modestly claims praise for orchestrating this defiance of economic laws.
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