> that the US will protect international shipping, and in return all petroleum contracts will be priced and executed in dollars
People say this, but the dollar is free-floating against other currencies and oil is priced on (OPEC-manipulated) supply and demand, so it seems like an accounting fiction. Like, we could price oil in pork belly futures.
Yes but they are settled in dollars, and all the countries of the world are in fact holding dollar reserves.