I'll try to simplify this for those who just want the guts of it.
Oil prices are falling, drastically. Why is less of a question except in that time is running out for oil to be such a powerful weapon, for all producers. But currently it is the new world weapon.
Riyadh (the Saudis) are refusing to cut production, thus allowing the price to fall through the floor. It is estimated they will act only when it reaches $US60 a barrel. Just consider this, the break-even price of oil, where income covers costs:
Saudi, $98; Yemen, $US160; Algeria, $US132; Iran, $131; Iraq, $US111, Russia, $105. The US? somewhere between $42 and $70, depending on who you speak to.
Why is Riyadh doing this? Basically it is an attack on the economic viability of marginal oil producing countries, for good Sunni reasons:
Islamic State: if the price of oil falls sufficiently they will not find a black market for their cut-priced production, worth the trouble to do business.
Iran: for supporting (Shia) Assad in Syria and Shia Iraq.
Russia: for supporting (Shia) Assad and Iran.
Iran and Iraq: for the potential of them combining to challenge Riyadh as an oil producing price-influencing cartel.
US: for a list of botch-ups in the Middle East - undermining the US producers by making their profitability marginal.
But the US is not entirely unhappy, due to the affect on Moscow and Tehran. The US is finding its new found approaching oil sufficiency status is not only providing a powerful weapon to bring other countries to heel, but also freeing it from being at the mercy of the Middle East, and thus Israel. Only to be replaced by China and India, who continue to rely on influence and stability in the Middle East. This puts the US in an extremely powerful position, sufficient to warrant the environmental cost of all that fracking across the country. Not only has oil become the primary weapon of US Foreign Policy, but it is fuelling the reinvigoration of the US economy - just remember, historical economic booms are based on cheap energy and labour.
Although Riyadh has ample reserves to weather the strategy, it is not entirely free from vulnerability. It paid out billions recently to placate its people from joining the Arab Spring, and could well run a deficit this year.
But the rise of alternative energy sources, due to the pressure from global warming, is turning the old oil empires into dinosaurs. The old dinosaurs never did go extinct, they just evolved into today's pretty little birds. People forget, most of the dinosaurs had feathers.