ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses why there were no formal contacts between the most prominent oil producer and oil consumer organizations in the 1970s and 1980s. It describes how the relationship with the oil producers influenced the founding negotiations of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the first contact during the Conference on International Economic Cooperation. The chapter analyzes the influence of the changing market conditions and economic doctrines of the 1980s on the discussions about an energy dialogue between oil consumers and producers. Henry Kissinger saw a possibility of increasing the US profile with regard to Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) by taking over the leadership of consumer cooperation. The developments intensified the IEA’s impression that OPEC and its members were not interested in a stable development of the oil market but rather in short-sighted maximizing of the revenues.
