Oil Nations Ditch Dollar, Invest Heavily in China
Various signs indicate that Saudi Arabia is increasingly taking a stance against the United States, and oil-producing countries are also beginning to abandon the US dollar in search of new settlement currencies.
All of this can be said to be the result of America's own actions.
Back then, Saudi Arabia reached an agreement with the United States to settle oil trade in US dollars, which led to the establishment of the petrodollar system and confirmed the financial hegemony of the US dollar.
However, the petrodollar system is now starting to collapse, and it is starting with Saudi Arabia.
Recently, several oil-producing countries have announced a reduction in oil production, with a total daily reduction of about 120 barrels, of which Saudi Arabia's reduction accounts for nearly half of the total reduction.
The United States, of course, does not agree with this reduction action, considering it to be ill-timed, and has conveyed its position to oil-exporting countries.
But in fact, the United States' position does not need to be conveyed; their motives are well-known.
The United States is trying to fight domestic inflation, and the reduction in oil production by oil-producing countries will inevitably push up gasoline prices, which is not conducive to the reduction of inflation in the United States.
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However, it is clear that Saudi Arabia is not willing to pay for America's inflation.
In addition to stabilizing oil prices, Saudi Arabia's larger goal is to reduce oil trade settled in US dollars in the future, thereby breaking free from the shackles of the US dollar.
Oil-producing countries are not the first time to act without looking at the United States' face.
The last time OPEC+ countries reduced production was in October last year.
Even under tremendous pressure from the United States, countries like Saudi Arabia still insisted on reducing production.
Subsequently, they were criticized by the United States, and the US President even threatened Saudi Arabia with consequences, while US Democratic lawmakers called for an end to cooperation with Saudi Arabia.
This time is just a replay of the last time.
The cooperative relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia has lasted for decades, but this relationship has recently become increasingly deteriorated, which is also normal.
After all, the United States has always been arrogant and selfish, only considering its own interests, and likes to point fingers at other countries.
It is only a matter of time before it cannot be tolerated.
Moreover, this oil production reduction is also inseparable from the United States.
The US economic crisis is very likely to trigger a future banking crisis, and once the banking crisis erupts, Saudi Arabia will be the first to be hit.
Oil prices have already fallen a lot due to the impact of the global banking crisis, and Saudi Arabia is doing this just to stabilize the oil market and avoid losing more.
In fact, the high oil prices in 2022 also benefited the United States.
Last year, Europe was deeply involved in an energy crisis.
At the same time, Russia, as a major energy country in Europe, was also under pressure from various countries and found it difficult to export energy.
Other European countries themselves have little energy reserves, and Russia's energy exports have been curbed by the United States, making European resources even more scarce.
After the data came out last year, everyone was not surprised to find that nearly 20% of the EU's crude oil was purchased from the United States.
The United States is inevitably gloating, and as long as you think about it, you know that the United States is behind the scenes.
In the end, it benefits the most.
At the beginning of last year, Europe was still normal, and nearly 30% of Europe's crude oil was produced by Russia.
But now, in just one year, the amount of crude oil exported by the United States to Europe has actually doubled.
Although Saudi Arabia has also tried to export more crude oil to Europe in this year, it was found in the end that the market has been occupied by the United States.
So the various contradictions between Saudi Arabia and the United States are actually formed over time.
Finally, Saudi Arabia has made a new choice.
In addition to reducing the supply of oil through production reduction to stabilize oil prices, Saudi Arabia has resumed diplomatic relations with Iran and strengthened its ties with China.
Currently, oil-producing countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, are increasingly reducing US dollar settlements, especially when the influence of the Shanghai Exchange's oil futures is growing larger, oil-producing countries have begun to try to use the renminbi price as the trade price with China.
At the same time, Middle Eastern financial groups that have always liked to invest in European and American markets have also begun to turn their attention to China.
Saudi Arabia's largest oil company, Saudi Aramco, recently invested nearly 100 billion yuan to increase its investment in mainland China.
Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds have also started to buy more A-share listed companies.
The petrodollar system that has been operating for half a century is developing more and more cracks.
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