Both sides have learned a lot and moved on. In the 1980s we heard much more about the producers' need for security of demand, to match the consumers' need for security of supply. After the price collapse of 1986 came the period of increasing dialogue. This is now a regular feature of the political scene. The next in the series of worldwide consumer-producer ministerial meetings will take place in Saudi Arabia next year, jointly sponsored by the Netherlands and Japan.
Talk is better than confrontation.
Is there really better understanding of the respective motivations and expectations of producers and consumers and the appropriate relationship between them. Mutual understanding is certainly much improved. During the oil price collapse of 1998, there was no rejoicing on the part of the oil consumers. Indeed, IEA members became increasingly concerned - and not just those, like the United States, whose domestic operators were being forced to shut in oil production, because of the low prices. There was genuine anxiety about the effects of the drastically reduced revenue flows on the Middle East producers - anxiety about the effects on investment in future production, and anxiety about the more immediate effects on social and political stability in economies so dependent on revenues from a single commodity.