It's not petrol-consuming countries that are so obsessed. It's their foreign policy-making elites. Further, I'd say they're not interested in the price as much as the scarcity-rents (i.e., price _minus_ cost of production). Thus, the focus on places like Saudi Arabia, where rents are especially high. On top of that, as Doug noted, it's the _control_ of potential rent income that's crucial. -- Jim Devine "Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" -- Richard Feynman