the intervention was apparently carried out with the aim of guarding bahrain's oil infrastructure. the two kingdoms have "strong" economical ties and saudi arabia had made significant investments in bahrain's "tourism, infrastructure and some other industrial plans". saudi arabia, bahrain's largest trading partner, sent troops to bahrain to pursue some economic goals and among the important factors leading to sending troops to bahrain were "the possibility of the loss of oil fields, terminals and crude processing plants, the loss of investment and future investment prospects". moreover, any spill over of bahrain's unrest into the neighbor kingdom would "upend" global oil markets.