Saudi Arabia sets oil market policy purely on an economic basis, no less and no more, the kingdom's oil minister reiterated in a broad-ranging interview with the newspaper Al-Hayat.
Ali al-Naimi rejected "conspiracy theories" that Saudi Arabia was using oil as a diplomatic weapon against Iran, Russia or any other country, calling such beliefs a misunderstanding, tendentious and a fantasy without foundation.
Naimi was countering widespread suggestions in the Western media and think tanks that the kingdom had deliberately caused the price of oil to collapse in order to weaken its adversaries in Syria, Iraq and Iran.