1. Basic characteristics of the international oil market Due to the extreme geographical imbalance in the storage, production and consumption of the world's oil resources, most oil-producing countries and consuming countries are separated.

Oil resources and oil production are mainly concentrated in a few developing countries with relatively backward or relatively backward economies. Their oil consumption levels are low and they are major oil exporting countries. However, many economically developed countries with relatively scarce oil resources have lost their supply due to oil.

With its high consumption level and strong oil refining capacity, it has become a prominent oil importing country in the world; most other developing countries without oil resources are very minor oil importing countries.

As a strategic substance, oil and the huge geographical differences in its supply and demand caused the world oil market to achieve unprecedented development with the rise of multinational oil companies in the 19th century.

Since then, with the changes in the international oil landscape, the international oil market has shown its unique characteristics.

Manifested in: 1) High degree of monopoly.

Compared with other industries, the oil industry formed the earliest monopoly, has the highest degree of monopoly, and has the largest enterprise scale. As a result, the international oil price has been a monopoly price since 1875.

The period of free competition in the modern petroleum industry was very short, only about 15 years, that is, from 1859 to 1875.

By the mid-1870s, the Rockefeller Group had completed its exclusive monopoly on the U.S. and world oil industries, and formed the world's first oil trust in 1882. Since then, although there have been the Nobel Brothers, Royal Dutch/Shell Group

etc. to compete with it, and restructured the Rockefeller monopoly group into the "Standard Oil Holdings Company of New Jersey" based on the "Sherman Antitrust Act" passed by the United States in 1890, and in 1911 the US Supreme Court declared the "Standard Oil Holdings Company of New Jersey" based on the antitrust law.

" was disbanded and divided into 38 companies. However, with the further development of these oil companies, the world oil market became dominated by seven oil companies, becoming the world's largest oil monopoly group, commonly known as the "Seven Sisters" of oil. These seven oil companies

The company dominated the world oil market for 45 years.

In the early 1970s, after the developing oil-producing countries, dominated by OPEC, took back their oil sovereignty, a petroleum cartel was formed with OPEC as the main body.

After the mid-1980s, due to changes in the world's oil production and trade structure, a monopoly price was formed after struggles and compromises between the world's major oil-producing countries, led by OPEC, and Western developed countries such as the United States and Britain.

2) Strong political and military overtones.

Since entering the 21st century, oil has become a strategic material related to a country's survival and economic development.

After World War II, the nature of oil as an important strategic material has been further strengthened, and it has gradually become the world's main primary energy source, occupying an extremely important position in the economic, political, and military life of various countries.

The ups and downs of international oil prices are bound to become a matter of close concern to governments around the world.

The formulation of energy policies and foreign policies of various governments are often closely integrated with oil interests.

The Middle East war, the Iran-Iraq war, and the Gulf War all had a huge impact on the international oil market.

In fact, since the 20th century, the development of the world's oil industry and changes in international oil prices have been closely linked to the political, economic, diplomatic and military activities of various countries around the world.

Since President George W. Bush entered the White House, he has begun to formulate new energy policies. He has decided to develop oil in Alaska and other places internally in a planned manner, actively intervene in the competition for energy in the Mediterranean Sea, promote energy cooperation with Russia, and regard African oil as a

The “national strategic goals of the United States” quickly targeted oil-producing countries such as the Gulf of Guinea, Angola, Nigeria and Gabon.

The introduction of these new energy strategies and policies is obviously related to the Bush administration's obvious oil consortium background, and the deeper reasons reflect its major efforts to maintain the United States' strategic goal of "one superpower and dominance" in the early 21st century.

Strategic Realignment.

The United States is the world's largest oil consumer, with daily consumption reaching 20 million barrels in 2001.

The U.S. Department of Energy predicts that by 2020, its current reliance on imports for 55% of its oil needs will increase by another one-third.

It will continue to increase after that, while domestic oil production in the United States will decline by 12%.

This time, the United States disregarded the United Nations and launched a brazen war against Sabah. Although it was mainly based on the "U.S. National Security Strategy Report" issued last year, it listed "terrorism, large-scale weapons proliferation and 'rogue' states" as its core interests.

Actions taken based on threats, but it also clearly reflects the direction of its energy strategy, and hides its intention to claim the world's energy dominance and maintain its world hegemony, that is, by controlling Iraq, it controls 64.5% of the world's proven oil reserves.

% of the Gulf region, and by controlling Iraq, it gained a say in OPEC's determination of oil prices and share allocation, thereby taking control of both the International Energy Agency and OPEC.

Of course, any market is subject to the basic laws of market economy. The supply and demand and competition mechanisms are still at work in the international oil market. Prices will change to a certain extent as these factors change, thus further affecting the international oil market.

market.

2. International oil and gas trade trends 1. International oil trade direction Oil trade has remained active in recent years, with trade volume growing steadily, with an average annual growth rate of 3%.