[cmrdporcupine]

To bankrupt and slow down other oil producing countries that have even higher costs.

As an example, take a look at Alberta, Canada, with its giant oil sands projects -- on the world's largest deposit of crude oil on the planet -- basically unprofitable now.

[duxup]

I think that is true to an extent, as far as international politics goes. Saudi Arabia is happy to make that move to target say Iran, etc.

But things like oil sands and etc won't go away. It's accessible and the boom and bust nature of oil is just part of the system. They don't really stop oil sands.. just pause them.

Someone goes bankrupt today, someone else will sell that oil when the price goes back up. And if the price never goes back up then even Saudi Arabia is in trouble...

[cmrdporcupine]

What if you believe or know that the environmental regulatory environment for fossil fuel extraction is bound to change, or has to change? Say, due to climate change?

Wouldn't you want to at least temporarily stop your competitors from profiting from the last couple decades of massive unregulated oil sales, and at the same time try to dump as much of your product as you could?

[duxup]

I'm not sure Saudi Arabia is willing to sit on theses low prices for decades.

Reg pressure on oil could hurt them too...

Generally speaking the oil available now will be in the future if prices rise again. The technology to access oil has made it easier to get to, not harder.