ABSTRACT
The relationship between oil producers and oil consumers has had a history as long as the industry itself. Thus, producers create supply and consumers create demand. In the early years before the oil shocks of the 1970s, the consumers were effectively represented by the major international oil companies the socalled Seven Sisters. These companies, five American, one British and one Anglo-Dutch were seen by the producer countries both governments and people as representatives of the colonial powers. It was the producer governments who first presented a united front in the form of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) created in 1960. The invasion by Iraq of Kuwait in August 1990 triggered a revival of producer-consumer dialogue and yet again it was the threat of price shocks that encouraged the revival of dialogue. However, the events of 1998–99 had disturbed the producers, and the idea of co-operation with consumers gained a certain amount of traction.
