Reagan knew that the Soviet Union was making big bucks from sale of oil, but its costs were fairly high compared to Arab oil. By promising military aid to Saudia Arabia, and quiet negotiations, the price of oil plummeted from $30/barrel to about $10/barrel. The Soviet oil cost about $18/barrel to produce . . . so suddenly what was helping to finance their expansionist policies became a drain.
So at $30/barrel, the Arabs AND the Soviet Union benefitted, but with the Saudi's pumping excess oil out, and pricing dropped to $10/barrel . . .. the profits of everyone dropped . . . and it helped the U.S. economy recover from the Carter years . . .. and it helped bankrupt the Soviet Union.
All in all ..... a great deal!!
For those thinking that we helped to finance the Pakistani bomb . .. remember that the PROFIT levels went DOWN with the drop in prices.
The info from above came from a book about how R.Reagan set out to help push the Soviet Union into collapse.
Mike
You are absolutely correct here. Reagan prevented us from developing our own synthetic oil supply, but he also used the same thing to defeat the Soviet Union, and cause it to fall apart. Russia, however, still provides about 75%, if I remember correctly, of the natural gas for Western Europe.