Blog 3: Need for OPEC oil in coming decades uncertain: CGES

This article emphasizes the decreasing supply of oil as well as acknowledging the fact that OPEC and Mideast oil exports to the US are diminishing. The article also states that the gas prices in the US will remain constant, despite of the events that occurred in the Strait of Hormuz, the OPEC quotas, and other developments in the global oil market. The remainder of the article has excerpts from Julian Lee, a senior energy analyst at Center who discusses the dominance of oil in the world, but most importantly the shift from North American products to Asian products. According to Lee, "As long as oil remains an internationally traded commodity, price will still be subject to events in the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. will still have a strategic interest in the Gulf, but this will be related to the price of oil and not to the physical supply of oil to the U.S. itself. Of course, as the consumer of close to 20 mbpd of oil, prices will still be hugely important to the U.S."

I agree with Lee about the shift from North America to Asia. In class, we have discussed the globalization of labor and I think that it is a similar situation with oil. Most of the things are made/manufactured in China, Indonesia, India, Taiwan and other Asian countries and all the profits are on that side of the world. Oil is definitely a sociological issue because it affects almost everyone on this planet and especially in the US, where about 60% of the oil is used for cars and we are a democracy, so people have the right to speak up and voice their opinion. We know from the past back in 2007 when the oil prices rose suddenly, there was a huge protest and lots of uproar about the prices.


http://business.financialpost.com/2012/01/31/need-for-opec-oil-in-coming-decades-uncertain-cges/