Listen it works like this. If you want oil, you MUST pay in one currency, and one currency only: US Dollars. It has been this way since WWII. By doing this, we have artificially propped up the value of our currency with oil. Now fast forward to today. The Federal Reserve (legality of such an institution aside) has been printing more and more currency, driving inflation up. Nobody wants to be holding US Dollars, let alone sign a contract to be paid in US Dollars because it is guaranteed to slowly slide each year due to poor monetary policies. Once these countries dump OPEC and start their own Middle Eastern Alliance, each country will pick what currency they wish to sell their oil in. Most of them will pick their own currencies, but regardless none of them will use USD, the new policies are to get away from it in the first place. Once these supporting props to the value of our dollar are stripped away, people will be free to dump their USD reserves without repercussion, the value will begin to fall... and then the speculators will jump on the opportunity on the Forex, driving it further down. It's gonna get ugly before it gets any better. Remember, USD are FIAT, there is nothing at all backing the value other than the artificial oil props, once those are gone, how much is a dollar REALLY worth?