The recent decision by OPEC to reduce oil production has crystallized the growing influence of geopolitics on crude oil supplies. Despite strong pressure from the Bush administration on OPEC to delay its planned production cut, the position of Saudi Arabia, to reduce supplies, prevailed.
More important than the immediate impact on oil prices, OPEC's action signals the depth to which US foreign relations with Persian Gulf countries have plunged in the year since the US invasion of Iraq. US foreign relations with other key oil producing countries, including Russia and Venezuela, have also weakened considerably over the past year. Increasing antagonism between the world's largest oil producers and the Bush administration will...
