The Oil Factor in Us-Saudi Relations at the Present Stage

The history of relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States dates back more than 80 years. Initially, the interaction between Riyadh and Washington was based on the “oil for security” model, which justifies the relevance of studying the influence of the oil factor on the dynamics of US-Saudi relations. The article analyzes the main stages in the development of bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States in the 20th and early 21st centuries and at the present stage, taking into account internal and external factors, as well as in the context of regional and global processes. The process of formation and development of the oil sector of Saudi Arabia and Saudi Aramco (which has gone from an American concession to a leading national company) is studied from the point of view of the evolution of the kingdom’s foreign policy and the dynamics of relations with Washington. Particular attention is paid to the political and economic aspect, ideological and personal factors. Each of the ruling monarchs of the Al Saud dynasty adjusted the course of the kingdom’s development, according to a personal view of the country’s future, as well as based on the current interests of the ruling elites. Thus, radical changes occurred after the accession to the throne of the current king Salman ibn Abd al-Aziz in 2015, who appointed his beloved son Muhammad as crown prince. The prince headed the ambitious modernization project «Vision 2030», aimed not only at a number of significant reforms in socio-economic sphere, but also to rid Saudi Arabia of the “oil needle”, which had a strong impact on the state of relations between Riyadh and Washington. The author analyzes the current state of US-Saudi relations in the context of global transformations of the post-bipolar period and in the context of the Ukrainian crisis in 2022, since they have a direct impact not only on the regional processes of the Persian Gulf zone, the Middle East, but also on world energy markets.

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