If the Saudis had no oil or gas, then they would have been even poorer than the Somalis now. Anyway... if the oil prices fall further, then the rapidly growing Saudi population (those who belong to the non-royal clans) will find themselves in deep poverty...
The money is what binds these clans together. Without easy oil money, conflicts will increase.
But yeah that is open to different interpretation.
Maybe you were born 20 years ago?
From wiki:
The history of Saudi Arabia in its current form as a state began with its foundation in 1933 by Abdulaziz Al Saud, although the human history of the region that is now Saudi Arabia extends as far as 20,000 years ago. The region has twice in world history had a global impact:[who?][citation needed]
in the 7th century it became the cradle of Islam and the first center of the Arab Empire
from the mid-20th century the discovery of vast oil deposits propelled it into a key economic and geo-political role
[...]
At other times, the region existed in relative obscurity and isolation, although from the 7th century the cities of Mecca and Medina had the highest spiritual significance for the Muslim world, with Mecca becoming the destination for the Hajj annual pilgrimage.
For much of the region's history a patchwork of tribal rulers controlled most of the area. The Al Saud (the Saudi royal family) emerged as minor tribal rulers in Najd in central Arabia. From the mid-18th century, imbued with the religious zeal of the Wahabbi Islamic movement, they became aggressively expansionist. Over the following 150 years, the extent of the Al Saud territory fluctuated. However, between 1902 and 1927, the Al Saud leader, Abdulaziz, carried out a series of wars of conquest which resulted in his establishing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932.
[..]
From the 10th century (and, in fact, until the 20th century) the Hashemite Sharifs of Mecca maintained a state in the most developed part of the region, the Hejaz. Their domain originally comprised only the holy cities of Mecca and Medina but in the 13th century it was extended to include the rest of the Hejaz. Although, the Sharifs exercised at most times independent authority in the Hejaz, they were usually subject to the suzerainty of one of the major Islamic empires of the time. In the Middle Ages, these included the Abbasids of Baghdad, and the Fatimids, Ayyubids and Mamluks of Egypt
The emergence of the Saudi dynasty began in central Arabia in 1744. In that year, Muhammad ibn Saud, the tribal ruler of the town of Ad-Dir'iyyah near Riyadh, joined forces with the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, the founder of the Wahhabi movement – a radical form of Islam.[14] This alliance formed in the 18th century provided the ideological impetus to Saudi expansion and remains the basis of Saudi Arabian dynastic rule today. Over the next 150 years, the fortunes of the Saud family rose and fell several times as Saudi rulers contended with Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, and other Arabian families for control of the peninsula.
The first Saudi State was established in 1744 in the area around Riyadh and briefly controlled most of the present-day territory of Saudi Arabia through conquests made between 1786 and 1816; these included Mecca and Medina.[15] Concerned at the growing power of the Saudis, the Ottoman Sultan, Mustafa IV, instructed his viceroy in Egypt, Mohammed Ali Pasha, to reconquer the area. Ali sent his sons Tusun Pasha and Ibrahim Pasha who were eventually successful in routing the Saudi forces in 1818 and destroyed the power of the Al Saud...
[...]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Saudi_Arabia#Umayyad_and_Abbasid_periods------------------------------------------------------
PLENTY of wars BEFORE oil was discovered. Better yet, oil was the THE pacification device for that whole region.
And yet, after so many years and billions of $, all you see are gigantic collections of private parking full of gold plated exotic super cars...
