US doesn't think Saudi Arabia can supress oil prices anymore
The US fears that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter, may not have enough reserves to prevent oil prices escalating, confidential cables from its embassy in Riyadh show.
The cables, released by WikiLeaks, urge Washington to take seriously a warning from a senior Saudi government oil executive that the kingdom's crude oil reserves may have been overstated by as much as 300bn barrels  nearly 40%.
These cables date back to 2007 and 2008. The US embassy in Riyadh believes that Saudi Arabia is overstating their reserves, and that they can't ramp up production fast enough to push prices down any more.
Jay