Tell me how saving corrupt bankers - and indeed financing their bonuses, is morally superior to saving US domestic energy production.
Do not know where you got your bogus $8-$10 per barrel of oil cost. Saudi Arabia did this before and failed badly, losing market share and depleting their cash reserves. Their breakeven is $40 a barrel which means they are giving their oil for free. US shale oil reduced their cost basis knowing what the Saudis were doing. Now, they are less vulnerable as they can just cap their oil wells.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...t-fraction-of-rivals-costs-and-way-more-of-it + one more source: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/Aramcos-Breakeven-Costs-Are-The-Lowest-In-The-World.html The $3 something cost mentioned by Bloomberg does not factor other operating costs, they are basically talking about how much does it cost to get oil out, that's basically the raw/direct cost of extraction. More realistically, it's in the range of $8-$10 per barrel (When factoring in other operating costs).
Here is the article stating Saudi Arabian breakeven price is much, much higher than the claimed $10 per barrel. Who do you believe? https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapie...l-price-is-higher-than-expected/#2a3071a11c02
This is an excerpt from the same article stating the breakeven at $40 a barrel. So, the Saudis lied. Would not be the first time for them considering they are promoting Aramco. However, I found the most significant item in the prospectus to be that Saudi Aramco struggled to break even in 2016 when Brent crude averaged about $45 per barrel. Net income in 2016 was only $13 billion, and free cash flow a mere $2 billion. Contrast that with the $111 billion in income and $86 billion in free cash flow the company made in 2018 (when Brent crude averaged $71.34/bbl), and it looks like Aramco's breakeven price is just about $40/bbl.
The Forbes article is trying to figure out the cost from the financial statements of Aramco, which is not correct or accurate since the financial statements of the company are consolidated and include many operations and many items. You don't get such details from a consolidated statement.