Dynamic International Oil Markets

Abstract

Dynamic International Oil Market Developments and Structure 1860-1990 discusses the logic of changing market structures of the international oil industry. The market structures have, in the course of time, oscillated between competition and oligopoly, as the oil market expanded, matured, stagnated, and expanded again. This book provides a dynamic interpretation of the intensifying struggle among producer, and consumer governments, and oil companies, over the distribution of economic rents and profits. In particular, it shows the shifting fortunes of the governments and companies as they try to control the recurring capacity constraints between the upstream and downstream sectors, generated by the instability of the oil market. The first part of the book examines market conditions and developments between 1860 and 1990; the second part analyzes market structures after 1945.