U.S.-Saudi Relations and the Oil Crises of the 1980s

A firm energy policy statement from the United States should enhance our position with Arab leaders, reassert our leadership in the Western Alliance, and promote conservation and domestic energy development. Oil imports from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are reviewed in the context of the economic interests of individual OPEC nations rather than from the usual supply and demand view of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Countries (OECD). The argument is made for closing the gap between future demand and internal non-OPEC supplies by increasing conservation measures, particularly in the United States. U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia, whose oil resources have been developed only by American companies, will either remain cooperative or turn to confrontation as Arab-Israli relations evolve and America decreases her dependence on OPEC oil. The needs of individual OPEC nations to gear their oil production and price structures to their own economic development needs is explored, with emphasis on U.S.--Saudi Arabia relations. (DCK)