Boone Pickens Says There’s a New Sheriff in the Middle East: Putin

During an interview on FOX Business Network’s The Intelligence Report with Trish Regan, oil tycoon Boone Pickens blamed oil’s wild ride on there being too much of the fossil fuel, in part due to a rise in U.S. production.

“It was the United States, and the Saudis didn’t like it,” said Pickens. “They wanted to shut it down, so they announced we [Saudi Arabia] are not going to cut our production—in fact, they raised it.”

Pickens said the oil producers are the ones being hurt by falling oil prices, not consumers.

“It’s helped the economy of the world, except for Russia and OPEC and the U.S. producer,” he said.

“He’s [Putin] producing 10 million barrels a day, the Saudis are producing 10 million, we’re [the U.S.] producing 9.6 [million barrels], so we’re all big producers.”

He said Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is the “sheriff in town” in the Middle East.

“Putin has moved into the Middle East,” Pickens said. “He’s got that big naval base in Syria and they’ve said come on in.”

Pickens added: “Watch out in the Middle East- you’ve got a new player. That player is aggressive, smart and does not like the United States and knows he’s playing against a weak president.”