When President Barack Obama relented on lifting the Nixon Administration embargo (1973) on U.S. crude oil export shipments, it was considered a gesture of compromise to facilitate an overall congressional treasury budget agreement. It should be noted Canada was not included in the original embargo.
This embargo had stood in place since the 1973 Arab October war against Israel, which the U.S. had militarily facilitated in favor of Israel. This caused a Saudi Arabian embargo against the U.S. for about a year and a half.