The oil weapon

Another irony is that the Saudiya kept trying to keep oil prices down.

The Hasa side of the Gulf was not the only oilspot in the Arab and Muslim world... but it was the most productive, even given the bottlenecks in port capacity. Algeria and Libya had some oil, and more natural-gas; but if prices were low everyone just bought the crude from Hasa, ran it around Aden (or pipelined to Jeddah), and passed it up the Suez. TL;DR - low prices = Saudi monopoly; high prices = more countries compete. Although, yes; the Sauds get more vig too but - read on.

Over the late 1960s and especially the 1970s, the Muslims and Arabs figured out that they could use the production of oil as a weapon. Although, I suspect, the "weapon" was more an excuse. On the leadup to 1973, newly-liberated Algeria - or so I read - egged on Qaddafi that newly-promoted Libyan colonel to vote its way in the OPEC cartel. The Saudis didn't want to use the weapon, and they had little interest in improving the lot of the Maghreb; but they also didn't want to lose the Hijaz to excitable Moslems. So an embargo it was.

Higher oil prices also meant more money for Saudi, which wasn't the blessing it sounds like. Inflation was a problem given the appalling backwardness of the indigenous economy. All this cash but - what to spend it on? More motive for king Faisal to apply the brakes . . .