Gulf Trades Trigger Texas Tremors

As US President Donald Trump concluded his Gulf tour, former President Jimmy Carter's speech on July 15, 1979 couldn't be more relevant: "I am tonight setting a clear goal for the energy policy of the US. Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977—never."

- RANJAN TANDON

"I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite." — GK Chesterton

The foundation of a long-lasting friendship between the US and the Saudi kingdom was laid on Valentine's Day in 1945, when President Franklin D Roosevelt and King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud met aboard USS Quincy on the Suez Canal. The bonhomie translated into an arrangement that provided military security to the monarchy and guaranteed oil supplies to the republic. Within three years, a consortium led by Standard Oil Company of California discovered the Ghawar oil field (later to be a part of Saudi Aramco), the world's largest, in the Saudi desert. It heralded the kingdom's undisputed leadership as the largest player in global oil exports, ushering interdependency between the two countries.

In 1977, OPEC provided 85 percent of its crude oil to the US, with Saudi Arabia the single largest source. Against 8.5 million barrels per day of supplies almost five decades back, the figure prognostically remained at 8.44 mbpd in 2024. The Canadian Oil patch currently accounts for more than 60 percent of the US import basket.