SAUDI ARABIA IN THE U.S. FOREIGN OIL POLICY (1933–1943)
The article reports on the reasons of penetration of American oil companies into Persian Gulf. In spite of that the region was in the British sphere of influence the American companies gained oil concessions in the Arabian Peninsula. The author points out that the American companies intended to exploit their concessions while the British ones did not. He pays special attention to the influence of World War II on the shaping of the U.S. foreign oil policy in Persian Gulf and in Saudi Arabia. The expansion of the war operations cut Saudi Arabia’s revenues that enforced King Ibn Saud to seek for financial support from the oil companies. The U.S. government’s intention to preserve Ibn Saud’s goodwill to the American controlled oil concessions as well as to the American oil companies provided the extension of the American financial aid to Saudi Arabia and consequently the region was included in the sphere of the U.S. national interests.