Thanks for the interesting and timely post.
Just to clarify, the petrodollar system was actually initiated in 1973, when Saudi Arabia agreed (with the US) to sell all its oil for US dollars. Thereafter, any country / corporation that wanted to purchase oil from Saudi Arabia had to first exchange some of their own currency for US dollars. (Pretty convenient for the US, you must say.)
In return for this generous favor to the US, the US promised that it would sell Saudi Arabia weapons and protect the country and its oil industry.
The upshot was that the US could buy oil from Saudi Arabia with money that it simply printed at will. Kinda like counterfeit money.
It's not surprising that China, Russia and other countries are now moving out of the petrodollar system. And it won't be surprising if they are "punished" for misbehaving, just as Saddam and Qaddafi were.
Do you think this coincides with the US decline on oil production and other smaller countries finding vast reserves? They basically made deals with terrorist states out of desperation. Also OPEC was formed in the 60s with Saudi Arabia being one of the handful of countries involved. Did they keep selling the the US for USDs? I'll have to do more research lol Thanks for reading!