With King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia in serious condition, oil market participants are undoubtedly nervous that this could portend change and even upheaval in Saudi Arabia. Concern that his death could lead to a coup attempt or unrest in the Shi’ite population will no doubt be voiced, but is also likely to prove overblown. The overthrow of the Shah of Iran in 1979 came as a great surprise to most pundits. Indeed, as street demonstrations were growing more violent, a group of European bankers visited to lend more money to the Iranian government, dismissing the protests as nothing the Shah couldn’t handle. Among the more shocking revelations, it came to be known that the CIA station didn’t even have a farsi-speaking agent. The US government was so close to the Shah that it avoided doing anything that […]