are petrodollars fueling war and oppression 
saudi human rights violations and russia s invasion of ukraine have led to suggestions that those countries rulers have been emboldened by their oil wealth like any other resource petrodollars can be deployed for good or ill but they also show the limits of trying to get around the power of the u s dollar did saudi arabia drop the petrodollar in june 2024 rumors spread on social media that saudi arabia the world s largest oil exporter was refusing to renew a secret 50 year deal with the u s to price oil in dollars this was later confirmed to be fake news with experts pointing out the various flaws in the accounts including that there has never been a formal agreement with a specified expiration date before the rumors were debunked google searches for the term petrodollar spiked and people including segments of the media began speculating that the u s dollar s status as the de facto global reserve currency was over and that its economy could face turmoil as a result 20212223the bottom linepetrodollars are u s dollars received in return for oil exports the growth in global oil flows over time has increased the economic interdependence of crude exporters and importers and the volume of international capital flows but the oil trade and related investments depend crucially on the u s dollar as the most widely accepted global currency the u s dollar is unlikely to be supplanted as the global payments currency of choice in the near to medium term 