Geopolitics: US and Saudi Arabia Relations

5 min readAug 2, 2023

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan went to Saudi Arabia to lay the framework for a new set of relations. As of late, relations could be better.

The National Security Advisor manages American foreign policy — even though the State Department gets all the credit. So, seeing the hyper-competent Jake Sullivan leading the charge here indicates how critical this is.

Biden’s push to Greentech has caused riffs in the relationship, but the other side has played a role too. MBS, the crown prince, is — for lack of a better term — an ass. And as anyone who’s dealt with someone like that knows, you must put up with much crap.

However, with Russia and China making moves against the US, Biden realises that Saudi Arabia is a beneficial partner.

Why Saudi Arabia is so Important

The reason why Saudis Arabia has so much power and influence is due to the control they have over the global oil supply.

Saudi Arabia possesses around 17 per cent of the world’s proven petroleum reserves.

This means that if the Saudis wish to increase the global oil supply, it will lower the price of oil that is used as a primary means of fuel for internal combustion engines; alternatively, if they raise the price of oil, inflation will rise in the cost of living will significantly increase due to the effects of a higher oil price.

A famous example of this is the 1970s oil crisis that knocked the wind out of the global economy and … led the price of crude to rise from $3 per barrel to $12 by 1974.

One of the long-term global effects of this crisis is that it led to a permanent decline in birth rates in Japan since 1978 due to the effect of this crisis and the cost of living.

Japan’s current birth rate has been a perceptive decline since the oil crisis, and in 2020 the birthrate of woman in Japan was 1.34 births in 2020.

Saudi Arabia has an appalling human rights record in the Western world, and most civilised and humane nations would have nothing to do with it were it not for their control of the oil supply. One of the main reasons the USA and United Nations unanimously voted to intervene in the 1990 to 1991 first Gulf War was that Saddam Hussein attempted to conquer Kuwait and then Saudi Arabia.

The U.N. Security Council declared on August 2, the very day of the invasion, that the Iraqi action of ignoring the basic order of the international community was a violation of international law and adopted Resolution 660, which required the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Iraqi forces.

Ukraine and Saudi Arabia

The United States of America is dealing with many threats to itself and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, with the war in Europe engulfing the priorities of its allies due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The US is also highly concerned about a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan’s independent nation, threatening American interests in the Pacific.

This is why the United States is trying to keep Saudi Arabia out of the camps of the Russian Federation and China’s Communist Party.

The Chinese, in particular, need access to oil from the Persian Gulf and particularly Saudi Arabia.

This means that should it come to war, the United States will need to block or transportations of food and oil into China due to that nation not being self-sufficient.

Within six months to a year, China will be out of oil and, within six months, will suffer a population or civilisational collapse without access to food and other global markets.

America’s Enemies that Control Oil

Russia is the third-largest oil producer worldwide, accounting for over 12 per cent of global crude oil production.

Rich in natural resources, the country concentrates its energy production in the West Siberia and Volga-Ural oil and gas provinces.

According to the 2022 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, Venezuela has more proven oil reserves than any other country.

Venezuela’s 304 billion barrels of proved reserves edge Saudi Arabia’s 298 billion barrels. Both are far ahead of U.S. proved reserves of 69 billion barrels.

The United States has to have a strong relationship with Saudi Arabia or, at the very least, keep them outside the Chinese and Russian sphere of influence and networks of alliances due to Saudi’s ability to impact the United States allies that are not energy self-sufficient.