“Listen, that thing is going to fall apart on you over there and it’s coming up fast,” Pickens said today on business cable network CNBC in reference to the debate over who would succeed King Abdullah.

“They produce 9.7 million barrels a day and he (Abdullah) is 86, 300 pounds, and has diabetes. An actuarial table on him would be in days or weeks.”

Pickens, who is founder and chief executive of BP Capital Management, said it remains a “big question” what would happen to Saudi Arabia and its production after his death.

“If that starts to get squishy, the price of oil, you’re looking at $300, $400, $500 a barrel,”

Pickens advised that the US must take steps now to wean itself off of Opec and rely on its own resources including natural gas.

The result would be trillions of dollars in cost savings as the US would not have to pay Opec for oil or for expensive military deployments to safeguard it, he argued.

“If you look at the last 10 years, we have paid Opec, the United States, for our oil, $1 trillion,” Pickens claimed.

“If we go forward 10 years, we will pay at $100 a barrel, $2.5 trillion. If you go back and look at all the costs for the last 10 years, it’s more like $7 trillion, counting Army, Navy, Marines, and everything else.”

Pickens also said US president Barack Obama’s recent delay of TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry crude from the oil sands in Alberta to US markets, was a mistake.

“The Canadians are going to sell their oil,” he said. “Obama is going to put this thing off, and they’re going to permit a pipeline and that oil is headed for China and we’re fools.”

Developing energy at home would create a lot of jobs which would improve the US economy, Pickens added.

To watch CNBC's interview with Pickens click here.