Saudi Arabia accuses US speculators of oil price hikes

The Saudi princeling refused Bush’s request to increase the oil production in order to stem the price hike. According to Saudi king, his country supplies all the oil the customers ask for and there is no unfulfilled demand. That statement is technically wrong, as oil demand might dwindle in response to rising prices, and so Saudi Arabia would always face the exact demand it is willing to supply.
Presently, however, there are no signs of dwindling demand. Modern economy is much more energy-efficient than in 1970s and weathers the rising oil prices well.
Russian oil supply increased considerably over the years. Iraq is nominally pumping approximately the pre-war volume, but really much more as black market supply goes out from Kurdistan. The oil hike price is entirely attributable to commodity speculators who profit from the irrelevant instability in Iraq.
In the crazy post-modern world, corporate fascism and liberalism work for the same goals: oil corporations profit immensely from the rising prices, and liberals protest imposition of the “colonial” supply requirements onto Iraq and Kuwait, ostensibly liberated and surely controlled by the US, and on Saudi Arabia which the US protects from Iran.