Nationalism a threat to global oil production

More than a decade after founding the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo fell out of love with oil.

Deeply disappointed by the destructive impact high oil prices had had on petroleum-producing nations such as his native Venezuela, in 1976 he branded it the “devil’s excrement”.

Thirty years on, the price of oil is soaring again and oil-rich countries are following the same route of aggressive nationalism that led the father of OPEC to disown his creation.

..Julian Lee, of the Centre for Global Energy Studies in London, estimates that factors involving geopolitical crisis and nationalism in Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Russia, Kuwait and Venezuela have reduced oil supply since 2000 by as much as 7.8 million barrels a day – equivalent to the combined consumption of Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

Frederic Lasserre, chief energy analyst at Societe Generale in Paris, adds: “Latin America is the perfect region to witness the impact of nationalism on production. Mexico and Venezuela have stated for the last 10 years that they should be able to increase their oil production. In both cases, the production has not really increased and is even showing some signs of decline.”

The Australian