Nor do you know the mind of another person even with them telling you either. Governments lie about their intentions and their actions all the time. It's true no one from Saudi Arabia has said this is what they're doing, and I'd be pretty surprised if they did since they're wholly dependent on the US militarily. The Kingdom is also dependent on high oil prices, since it is basically the country's only source of income. In seeing the consequences of what they're doing, I'm making an educated guess as to the intention. But I'll even walk it back and say it's likely not the primary driver of their actions, but the fact that prolonged low oil prices hurt shale producers and increases their future market share certainly does not go unnoticed by them, and they view it as a long term benefit. To say that it was the primary objective of their actions was overshooting on my part.