I will leave on the side the political (dictatorship) factor.
I guess that manipulating oil price to hurt Russia and Venezuelan, also took a bite of Saudis wallet.
I will leave on the side the political (dictatorship) factor.
I guess that manipulating oil price to hurt Russia and Venezuelan, also took a bite of Saudis wallet.
This is a very simplistic (and incorrect) view of the economic relationship between the United States and S.A.
First, the majority of Saudi oil is sold to Europe and Asia (not the United States) but it has always been denominated in US dollars - regardless of the purchaser. This enormous demand for US dollars in global trade that need not be related to the US at all has been to our great favor.
Second, a tremendous amount of the US dollar surplus that SA generates is immediately recycled back into the hands of US industry - specifically, military industry. SA is a ready buyer of whatever new technologies our military industrial complex produces and we are paid a great sum of money for this military partnership.
You personally may not be sharing in the profits but a tremendous economic benefit is realized by the United States and her technical and military industries.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/09/16/who-buys-sau...
For me it is the political aspect of interfacing with such "Powers". UK, USA, Russia had cause more pain and blood that anyone else in the last few centuries. I cannot forget this. But they have (mostly) cleaned up their act (some less than others).
As for the military industry, allow me to believe in a "Star Trek" humanity than a 'we got bigger-better-badder guns than you' future. Arms race benefit the weapons dealers and the warmongers, not the people who get burned by the napalms.
These are hugely complex discussions that are caused and causing many issues on different domains/areas. It may be too simplistic, but let's end energy dependency, let's make more schools, and education will pave the road for a better future.
Not really; Saudi Arabia has the highest quality and cheapest to extract oil sources in the world. They absolutely can afford to manipulate oil prices because they know with absolute certainty that their operational costs will be lower than other countries.
They have trillions of dollars invested globally. Problem is that equity is turning into a suckers' game and they want shareholders to be left holding the bag now that green energy is about to kneecap the oil industry. No thanks!