Geopolitics and the Oil Price Cycle – An Introduction

Oil prices experienced record volatility in the spring of 2020 amid two separate, but simultaneous shocks—the largest singular, sudden drop in oil demand in history amid lockdowns across the world to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and a brief oil price war among the world’s largest oil producers. The gyration was the latest in a series of oil price shocks, both upwards and downwards, experienced in recent years. This EEEP symposium on Geopolitics and the Oil Price Cycle brings together leading scholars from three respected academic energy centers, including researchers from Texas and the Middle East, to address different aspects of the question in light of key strategic geopolitical changes since 2000. The symposium considers three papers on important aspects to geopolitics and oil prices: the end to the U.S. ban on crude oil exports; the Arab Spring and geopolitical risk, and OPEC’s policies regarding its spare production capacity.