Daniel Yergin: prediction

Transcript context

…Let’s say you were in charge of one of these OPEC countries in 1973. You realize that you have a tremendous amount of leverage in the short term on the world economy because everything's at a standstill. Over the long run, substitutes will be developed or more oil will come online and so forth. But you have this unique moment of leverage where people really need your oil. What would you have done? Would you have said "Give me a seat on the UN Security Council and I'll open up the gushers"? I think these countries did assert their political power. Certainly it was a very different Iran, but the Shah of Iran until he got sick and fell, was asserting, "We're players in the world economy." Saudi Arabia had been a country that people didn't think much about in the US. Suddenly Saudi Arabia became really important. You had this huge flow of money that went into these economies, what were called petrodollars. That made them a whole other source of influence. In the book I talk about Richard Nixon's vice president, Spiro Agnew, who had to quit. He actually resigned because he was corrupt and even had people paying for his groceries. A couple of years later, he shows up in Saudi Arabia trying to do business as a consultant. People went there. That's where the money is. Today, if you're a private equity fund, for many of them their number one place to go to raise money is not necessarily the pension funds of various states in the US. These private equity funds or venture capital funds are going to the Gulf countries again because that's where the money is. Does this happen with you? You're the world's expert on energy. I'm sure your expertise is worth a lot to them.…

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