‘Things are about to get worse,’ ex-U.S. energy official warns after attack on Saudi oil giant

A former U.S. energy official predicted that “things are about to get worse” for Americans at the pump, after Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked the headquarters of the Saudi-owned oil giant Aramco late Tuesday.

David Goldwyn, who served as the State Department’s special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs during the Obama administration, told MS NOW’s Stephanie Ruhle he believes “prices aren’t going to fall anytime soon.”

Goldwyn, who now serves as the chair of the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center’s Energy Advisory Group, said the attack, which preceded a rise in oil prices Wednesday morning, “raises the question of what’s next” and listed several targets Iran and its proxies may have in their sights: “Are they going to hit OAPEC, which processes 7 million barrels a day of oil for Saudi Arabia? Are they going to hit the East-West pipeline again? Are they going to hit the terminals in Yanbu or elsewhere?”

According to Goldwyn, the strike’s timing proves that “the Iranians, in particular, clearly want to influence the U.S. midterm elections.”

The former energy official said the “risk profile is rising” in the region and there will be “increased pressure on the administration” to act. However, he said he did not think it was likely that a deal between the U.S. and Iran would be reached in the near future.

“These are the three scenarios: There’s escalation, status quo or some sort of a peace deal,” Goldwyn explained. “There’s no peace deal on the table with Iran. They clearly don’t even want to negotiate until after the midterms.” As a result, he said, “We’re looking at escalation either by the United States after the midterms or by the Iranians and the Houthis right now.”

Goldwyn also discussed Donald Trump’s new deal with Russia, which would lift sanctions and allow the U.S. to import diesel from Russia. “It’s not going to lower prices,” he said of the agreement. “It’s not going to affect the global market. It’s putting pressure on the Ukrainians, and it’s not doing anything with the Russians.”

“Prices aren’t going to fall anytime soon,” Goldwyn added.

You can watch Goldwyn’s full comments in the clip at the top of the page.

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