Oil prices recently dipped below $50 per barrel for the first time [1] since May 2009.
Observers have attributed the drop to both an increase in supply, resulting from the
shale revolution in the United States, and a decrease in demand, owing to sluggish
global growth. All eyes have been on the Kingdom, which houses roughly 73 percent
of the world’s proven oil reserves, to cut back its production and help stabilize prices.
But Riyadh has refused to play ball, breaking from its traditional preference for high
prices, in order to keep pumping.