The price of oil finished lower to start the week as Saudi Arabia led other Middle Eastern countries in severing diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar after accusing them of backing terrorism. But wait a minute. Wouldn’t an increase in political tensions between competing OPEC nations increase production uncertainty and therefore raise the price of oil? Generally this would be the case. But the dynamic of this particular Middle Eastern spat isn’t general at all. To oil markets, Qatar is a nobody. As far as markets are concerned, this is a proxy issue between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Two countries where the likelihood ... (full story)