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Sadly it's more than just that. OPEC and the Petrodollar is the main reason why the relationship is so unseverable.

• voisin 6y ago
  Can you elaborate? Saudi Arabia is just one member of OPEC. If they are upset with a US sanction as a consequence of this, and refuse to sell oil to the US, wouldn’t that just mean other OPEC nations (or Canada!) would sell oil to the US and Saudi would fill the gap left by these countries supplying non-US countries? I think the “stabilizing force in the region” argument elsewhere n these comments is more on the mark but have a limited understanding of everything at play. I am concerned that Saudi has gotten away with this now and will be emboldened to do whatever they want now.
  • BitwiseFool 6y ago
    It's not so much that the US needs Saudi Arabian oil as it is that the United States needs oil to be sold using US Dollars. Saudi Arabia exclusively accepts US Dollars, so every nation wishing to buy oil needs to exchange their own currency for our dollar bills in order to do so. This gives the US a tremendous advantage in the world stage and is such a large part of why the US Dollar is worth so much overseas. If Saudi Arabia wanted to, they could start accepting Chinese Yuan, Russian Rubles, or even Japanese Yen and that would deal a serious blow to the US Monetary system. There would be nothing particularly special about the US Dollar and that would severely impact the US Economy. Actually decoupling from the US Dollar like this is highly unlikely, but it is a risk nonetheless. I suspect no US President wants to be the one in power when Saudi Arabia chooses to do so.