Non-OPEC Producers, the Ever Fading “Peak Oil,” and the Rise of the USA

Abstract

Since the momentous era of the 1970s when oil prices rose due to geopolitical factors such as the Arab oil embargo and more assertive national oil policies, the control of what was deemed to be limited energy resources and access to a diverse supply of oil became essential to major oil consumers like the USA, China, Europe, and Japan. While each of the above consumer countries or blocs reacted in different ways to ensure both sufficient energy flows and energy “independency,” access and security of oil supply became vital elements to national security, with the USA exemplifying this policy (Cuervo 2008). However, energy “security” was also important for China, the world’s second largest consumer nation, as well as for Japan and Western Europe. Gradually the issue of energy security became a global defense security concern as illustrated by tensions between countries sharing disputed mineral-rich maritime zones, like China and Japan, China and Vietnam, Russia and the Nordic countries/Canada/USA, and the UK and Argentina. More recent maritime tensions and disputes involve Israel and Lebanon/Palestine, and Turkey and Cyprus in the Mediterranean over gas field exploration rights.

The old order changeth, yielding place to the new.

Tennyson