The Energy New World Order, Mideast Oil and US Energy Security

Abstract: For over five decades, the world’s oil map has centered on the Middle East. However, with the advent of the 21st century, a new map is emerging, shifting from the Middle East to the Western Hemisphere. Some analysts assert that the world energy’s new map will change the existing world political order because the world’s new map will make the Mideast oil producers less powerful and less relevant. Furthermore, as the United States is getting less dependent on Mideast oil, it is most likely to readjust its Mideast policy accordingly. Yet, the argument in this article is that as the world has only one oil market, improved energy security of the United States alone will not necessarily lead to improved energy security on a global scale, nor will the United States automatically become immune to new disruptions of Mideast oil supply and to a new world oil price crisis. Rather, the fact that the Mideast geopolitical contradictions are structurally uncompromising and historically enduring will continue to affect the oil supply from the Middle East and therefore affect the US economy. Given the important role that the Mideast oil plays in boosting the global economy and conditioning world geopolitics, as well as in shaping America’s energy policy and economic policy, the author concludes that the power status of the Mideast oil will persist for quite some time to come.