May 12, 2008 - There was a time when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

(OPEC) controlled by Saudi Arabia and under the pragmatic thumb of

Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, would have opened wide the oil spigots in the

face of sky high prices and a looming U.S. economic recession. The

kingdom's wily old minister wanted to maintain a balance, siphoning off

just enough out of consumer's pockets to…