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

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.