June 21, 2008 5:44AM

Over a Barrel

By Ashley Webster

After leaving the London rain behind us, my producer Lauren Bedsole and I are sitting in the Frankfurt, Germany airport waiting for our next flight to Saudi Arabia and the oil summit in Jeddah. We are truly flying into the unknown, to a meeting of some of the world’s biggest oil producers and consumers who hope to find a way to cool down the surging crude oil market. The morning newspapers are full of skepticism that this meeting will achieve anything of substance and at least two commentators believe it’s a public relations exercise orchestrated by the Saudi’s to improve their image as the world’s biggest oil producer.
Ironically a meeting to calm the market could have the complete opposite affect if the summit fails to produce some sort of consensus of bringing oil prices down but based on the previews so far, the expectations are not overwhelming. We shall see. Next stop Jeddah.

-Ashley