petrodollar

British

/ ˈpɛtrəʊˌdɒlə /

noun

money, paid in dollars, earned by a country for the exporting of petroleum

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In addition, the long-held agreement with Saudi Arabia to recycle oil petrodollar surpluses into U.S.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 17, 2026

A secondary, but growing, advantage was China’s erosion of the petrodollar system External link, which refers to the dollar-denominated global oil trade.

From Barron's • Mar. 6, 2026

Citgo and its three U.S. refineries, which today have a combined total refining capacity of about 807,000 barrels a day, became a critical source of petrodollar revenue for Maduro’s government.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 6, 2026

This has left the Saudi government and the Public Investment Fund to try to deliver on the crown prince's diversification promises, aided by a petrodollar windfall.

From Reuters • Oct. 23, 2022

The Iranian revolution shocked the world and shook the very bases of petrodollar interdependence.

From Washington Post • Aug. 11, 2021

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023