ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book concerns the policy plans, options, and perceptions of the oil exporters in terms of their policies toward the production, export, and price of crude, as well as their ventures into hydrocarbon-processing industries. It devotes to the study of the developments in the "downstream" oil market: refining, tanker transportation, and petrochemicals. Superimposed upon the general problem of excess capacity in oil processing facilities is the large-scale construction of downstream operations within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations. The fact is that they are being built and government policy within OPEC has brought them into being whether the industrialized world likes it or not. The reasons for the lower-than-usual return on investments are many, but certainly an important factor is that investments in many OECD industries remain off limits to OPEC nations particularly to the OPEC Gulf members.
