Saudis fear we won't need them anymore

An interesting article was published on CNN.com last night. It appears that the Saudis will hold a summit to increase oil production in order to bring the cost of crude oil down. Why?

The Saudis are widely believed to be concerned that escalating oil prices - crude hovered around $134 a barrel Thursday, nearly double what it cost a year ago - will cause a permanent drop in demand as consumers get more efficient or, worse, the global economy slows.

Emphasis by me. Oh now they want to help out. Now that consumer nations, especially the U.S. has drastically cut their use of oil in a short time, they're "concerned." In other words, they're afraid that we'll won't be dependent on them for oil as we come up with alternative sources and processes for energy. Hopefully we won't stop coming up with these alternatives as we'll still have the same problems if the crude oil prices come down. We'd still be dependent on a fuel source that is finite, horrible for the environment, and encourages overconsumption.