The original “seven sisters” basically ExxonMobil and Chevron of the US and Europe’s BP and Royal Dutch Shell have now been dwarfed by
the new seven sisters: Saudi Aramco, Russia’s Gazprom, CNPC of China, NIOC of Iran, Venezuela’s PDVSA, Brazil’s Petrobras and Petronas of Malaysia.
As the economic effects of this “balance of power” shift, just be aware that HIGH PRICES CAN EASILY BECOME LOW PRICES.
Under the Reagan Admin the price of oil was manipulated so low that it sent The Sovient Union broke and essentially won the cold war without a shot being fired. Spectacularly successful.
The old policy applied in Reverse has seen China pay crazy prices for anything they want. Economic warfare is far less costly than actual wars/sanctions/political unrest etc.
The invasion of IRAQ under the pretense of WMD (weapons of mass destruction) was actually an oil play. 2/3 of Iraq has not even been drilled for oil, but you can expect trouble to follow anywhere that China looks for oil at the moment.
Anyway, I digress, point is this, there are 3 big levers that can be pulled to change the economic landscape worldwide. The price of
1) Oil
2) Iron Ore
3) Wheat
The people who control these control the world and they prefer stability to people with gold bars and guns under their beds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!