Are gas prices on their way DOWN? I guess there IS a world leader who can control the price, but not the one you think...

Saudi Arabia moves to calm oil market (HT: Moneybox)

''Saudi Arabia is taking steps to calm the oil market, boosting exports, filling up strategic oil stocks overseas and tapping oilfields to expand production capacity.

The moves by the world’s largest oil producer would be welcomed by the White House as it battles the negative impact of rapidly rising fuel prices. They come as oil prices surge above $125 a barrel, the highest since the crisis of 2008, and set record highs in a number of currencies, including the euro and sterling.

The Saudi measures include a sharp boost in exports to the US for April and May. Vela, the shipping arm of the state-owned Saudi Aramco, has hired the largest number of supertankers in years to move oil from the Gulf to the US.

Omar Nokta, of Dalham Rose & Co, a specialist investment bank in the energy sector, said that so far this month Vela had hired 11 very large crude oil carriers, each capable of shipping 2m barrels, to deliver oil to US-based refiners.''

“In 2011, Vela fixed one VLCC to the US every other month,” he said in a note to clients. “This is the first time in several years for Vela to hit the market with such volume – and in such a short timeframe,” he added.