[en] A continued low oil price will become increasingly politically charged as the lack of incentives to develop new (higher cost) upstream facilities will result in an undesirable high dependency on Middle East oil. Moreover, newly emerging markets (notably in Asia and Latin America) require major investments for regional (rather than export) purposes -refineries, power plants, natural gas transmission and distribution facilities. Such investments are capital intensive and leadtime sensitive (i.e. require a long-term view/commitment). Yet the capital to make such commitments/investments is still heavily concentrated in the OECD-countries: will such capital be made available for the emerging regional energy sectors? (author)