Dissatisfaction with the division of the pie is not a new phenomenon. Nearly 70 years ago, the Mexicans kicked out the foreign oil companies and enshrined the principle of “it’s our oil” in their constitution. Forty years later, most Middle Eastern oil producers followed suit. During the past week, Venezuela , Bolivia and Ecuador have moved to take control over their oil and gas assets. The objective, of course, is to maximize the revenue the local government receives for its oil and to minimize the profits of foreign oil companies to the extent possible.

The new factor in all this is that oil-exporting countries can now find other partners to take the place of the international oil companies. There are now a number of oil-importing countries that have the resources and technical expertise to assist the oil-exporting countries in return for a guaranteed source of oil.

All this does not bode well for the US . Many of the countries from which we import our oil are already facing some sort of restrictions on their ability or willingness to sell oil to the US . The most politically friendly and stable— Canada , Mexico , the UK , and Norway , are all undergoing, or will soon face, varying degrees of oil depletion. It is important to remember that as an oil exporting country goes into depletion, exports will drop at a much faster rate than the country’s oil production, for an exporter will cover its domestic requirements first.

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