Succession to Saudi Throne Eyed Closely by Oil-Buying US Leadership of the World's Largest Oil Producer Is in Transition, with the Aging Monarchy Facing Change

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WASHINGTON is watching closely as one of its most stable Arab allies enters a season of change.

The desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia has long been a pillar of American interests in the Middle East, a conservative but moderate Islamic state that in recent years has helped maintain stable oil prices and even given cautious support to the US-backed Arab-Israeli peace process.

But mounting financial woes stemming from declining oil prices, reckless spending, and the 1991 Gulf war - plus restive Muslim fundamentalists - have afflicted a nation that once used oil profits to hold adversity at bay. Now, with the country's monarch at least temporarily indisposed, the …