خلاصه ماشینی:
Secondly, around 60% of the world's proven crude oil reserves, as well as most of its significant spare production capacity is found in the Persian Gulf states that form the backbone of OPEC.
The realization by the OECD countries in 1973 that they were dependent upon OPEC oil and that the major companies had lost control over production and pricing of a strategic commodity led to a chain reaction which is still very much with us today.
Under the leadership of Washington, the International Energy Agency (IEA) was established in 1974 to take the initiative away from OPEC on the world energy scene and weaken its ability to control the market!" This was accompanied by national programs to discover more oil domestically and in non-OPEC areas, to develop alternative sources of energy, promote conservation and reduce energy demand, particularly for oil, without hampering economic growth.
These predictions created a state of mind in the producing countries in which public officials and private indi victuals believed there was no limit to world oil demand and there were no alternatives to OPEC supplies in the foreseeable future.
Ideally, OPEC is in the business of defending the price of crude oil and earning a reasonable return for its member states from the sale of this non-renewable resource.
Thus the basic challenge to the OPEC member states in the future will be to diversify their economic resources and rationalize their domestic economies so that they will no longer be hostages to the world oil market and its tribulations.