The governance of international oil: the changing rules of the game

This paper deals with upstream oil where it is conventionally assumed that the game is about rent capturing involving two parties: the governments owning the natural resource, and the international companies. There is, however, a third party to the game: the governments of consuming countries. The issues, therefore, are not only about rent; they also relate to prices. As a matter of fact, the game strategically is about prices, and only tactically about the capturing of rent. It is at the strategic level that the governance structure of oil has to be analysed. This structure defines the rules determining the oil price level in the long term, to which the tactical rules of rent capturing are subordinated. (Author)