ABSTRACT
The entire world oil transport system has become disorganized, largely because the producer nations have little incentive to adjust the operations of their export terminals and lifting sizes to cater to the needs of oil shippers. If the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations really desire a dominant role in oil transport, it can be obtained more easily now than at any other time. Oil from natural seeps and hand wells in Southeast Asia was exported to China long before contact with Europeans, and the Dutch augmented their spice trade out of the East Indies by shipping Indonesian crude to Europe for its reputed medicinal properties. In continuing to order ships, tanker owners and oil companies were essentially betting that continued political instability in the Middle East would not only keep the Suez Canal closed but also prevent construction of an effective Gulf-to-Mediterranean pipeline system.
