"If something happens in Saudi Arabia it (oil) will go to $200 to $300 (a barrel). I don't expect this for the time being, but who would have expected Tunisia?" – Former Saudi oil minister Sheikh Zaki Yamani 4/5/11

In my view, Sheikh Zaki Yamani's oil price prediction would be the least of our American problems resulting from a Saudi government collapse. The most important question facing the United States today is whether the freedom or color revolutions sweeping the Middle East will impact the authoritarian regime of Saudi Arabia and the major oil producers surrounding this nation of major oil reserves?

The second question is if the government is overthrown, will the new government continue the practice of pricing oil in depreciating dollars rather than consider new options? The future value of the dollar and the dollar status as the world's reserve currency depend heavily on the answer to these two questions.

"I don't think that what the King is doing now is sufficient to prevent an uprising. Saudi Arabia is a time bomb, but one that is constantly being reset." – Jaafar Al Taie, managing director of Manaar Energy Consulting