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Sorry for my late answer, I only saw your post now. You'll find Nixon's order (the one that matter)
here.
First, let me add that this plan isn't especially complicated or clever : the USSR was the number one oil producer at the time, and it was producing so much to pay its bills. Both fact were not hard to find, and it's rather logical that cutting its revenue would cause a lot of trouble.
This unsettles me as OPEC, which Saudi Arabia was a part of, actually increased prices for some time, which makes me question how much control the US had over them
My hypotethis doesn't require a lot of control. None in fact : the communists were threathening the very fundation of the Saudi, Quatari... power, and I cannot imagine that they (the Saudi) took the fall of the Sha of Iran lightly. They needed an answer and they needed it quickly.
That's more then you cite, because you don't cite.
I don't cite because I have nothing to cite. I noticed that the USSR felt mostly because of the fall of crude oil price, and most importantly now that we need Russia weakened again, the oil prices fall again. I dug a bit, saw that it was mostly the US allie's doing and that they were supported and protected no matter what ever since. I then came to the conclusion that it was probably deliberate, since it was easy to plan and easy to implement.
I can easilly imagine any think thank coming up with that plan. It may have been an accident, but I don't think so.