Energy security is, without doubt, one of the most critical topics policymakers and professionals are concerned with. However, producers and consumers add a different meaning to these two words: the latter interprets ‘energy security’ as the stable supply of sufficient energy, the former view it as the maximization of profit. The relative concentration of the world’s oil reserves in several regions has created a dependency on oil revenue which has been dubbed ‘the resource curse’: the paradox of plenty where an abundance of resources leads to inefficiency and slow economic growth. Rapid changing oil prices can have serious consequences for countries strongly dependent on oil. Therefore, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, was founded in 1960. Its mission is not to raise prices to unreasonable heights but to “ensure the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to […]