The Council on Foreign Relations quotes Brent Scowcroft Center Resident Senior Fellow for Middle East Security Bilal Y. Saab and Brent Scowcroft Center Senior Fellow Robert Manning on how the death of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud could impact Saudi oil policy:
“The biggest risk associated with Riyadh’s oil strategy is domestic. An $89 billion revenue loss in 2015, assuming the price of oil hovers at $55 a barrel, will not lead to a social revolution. But sharp cuts in welfare spending and salaries for government workers, which account for 50 percent of budget spending, could have unpredictable consequences,” write Bilal Y. Saab and Robert A. Manning in Foreign Affairs.