US reliance on Saudi oil is nearing its endgame

FOR decades, one of Saudi Arabia’s most strategic overseas outposts was a little-known office in New York City that coordinated its oil sales to American clients. An anonymous suite on Madison Avenue was the invisible hand that glued the petrostate to the US.

Until it wasn’t.

Last year, Riyadh closed its New York oil office – a sign of the twilight of Saudi crude in America. Thanks to the shale revolution and the rise of the Canadian oil industry, US imports of Saudi crude plunged to their lowest in almost 40 years in 2024, according to Bloomberg Opinion calculations based on customs data. The flows are unlikely to recover anytime soon – if ever.