The pot of gold at the end of Dorado, page-678

Especially when the thing that keeps you on top is a finite energy resource with an increasing number of substitutes kkw. You need to go back to the 1970s and Nixon to get near the nub of the US / Saudi relationship and it isn't as straightforward as oil. Saudi owns a ton of US debt, financed by their oil dollars, and if it can't use oil supply and prices as a weapon (like it did in the 70s) it could use US treasury debt just as effectively in all likelihood. Then there's US arms sales to Saudi Arabia to further muddy the waters. Nothing is certain except that the US will attempt to wield its economic power to its own benefit and enrichment as it has been doing since the Bretton Woods agreement. The Saudis are definitely not orphans when it comes to swinging economic weapons to keep its citizens happy and people in power.