Rakesh:
I follow the application of the theory of differential rent to the international price of oil.
There are however three caveats. First, I think the theory has to be applied to "oil sites" (possibly, firms) and not to regions. For example, when the price of oil tumbled severely in the late 1980s after the Saudis flooded the international market with oil (because they were angry at cartel members who would not uphold cartel agreements) many wells in the US were permanently closed. Many however remained opened. Large firms, like Exxon, will have many high and low cost sites. So, the appropriate unit of analysis is the marginal oil field - not the nation, region, or even firm. Marx applied his theory of differential rent to the marginal acre of land, where the aggregate level of consumption determined the total amount of required agricultural product.
Second, the OPEC members have different time horizons - even as many may have similar low costs of extraction. The Saudis have a great deal of oil and do not wish to have a regime of high prices, as this would cause a speed up in the use of oil substitutes and thus diminish the value of their overall stock. Other OPEC members have much less oil and thus would like a regime of very high prices, since substitution away from oil is not a viable solution in the short and they will not have any oil in the long run.
Three, the issue of political stability. Those countries with highly unstable elites might wish to have very high prices for two reasons. One, it generates the high profits necessary to buy off internal opposition. Two, they'd looked down the road and discovered that they, i.e., the oil barons, will not be in power much longer; hence, they wish to sell all the oil they can now and profits in US treasury bonds.
On a related issue, I am confused at how you related this to the Bin Laden's Pan-Islamic agenda. (My words here, not yours). Paraphrasing, you said that US oil companies were getting the best of the Saudis. I gather that other than religious issues, radical nationalists in Saudi are also upset with US control. Please expand on this for me.
peace, patrick l mason