Round Table: For Security's Sake: Can the U.S. Help Petroleum-Rich Nations Avoid the Resource Curse?

Since oil was discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859, the United States has been in a perpetual race to discover new sources of petroleum so that supply will meet domestic demand. As US petroleum resources have diminished, the US has increasingly turned to foreign petroleum supplies, and since 1998 its petroleum imports have surpassed the 50 percent. The United States is the world’s largest consumer and importer of energy resources. At the same time, the world’s fastest growing economies of developing Asia, including China and India, have entered the race to gain access to existing petroleum supplies and to new discoveries worldwide. The search for new energy to fuel mounting domestic demand has also had a tremendous impact upon the countries that feed our ballooning energy needs.

This roundtable will examine US energy security within the global context. In particular, it will look at the internal political, economic, and social conditions in the countries upon which the United States is
dependent for its supplies. The United States is dependent upon oil and gas supplies from a large array of developing countries (e.g., Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela, and Mexico), which have often been rocked by political instability or have failed to use their oil and gas wealth to promote sound economic and political development. In fact, most supplier nations in the developing world are notorious for having experienced negative economic and political outcomes such as poor economic performance, poor governance, low levels of human development, and high levels of income inequality and corruption. Oil wealth and the reliance upon volatile global petroleum markets are often attributed to perpetuating the above-mentioned conditions in developing countries.

This roundtable will look at the impact that the global race for new energy has on the domestic politics and economies of the countries that supply these sought after petroleum reserves. Given that the US is the main importer of energy supplies, this roundtable will seek to launch a discussion concerning how the United States and its competitors, foreign oil and gas companies, and non-governmental organizations can ensure that oil exploration does not exacerbate the domestic conditions that have precipitated the resource curse throughout many of the energy-rich countries in the developing world. By encouraging policies and institutions that promote transparency, accountability and oversight in the countries in which petroleum reserves are located, US energy security and stable global energy markets might be enhanced. Yet, what role should the US and other advanced industrialized countries play if other countries such as China and India are not as concerned about improving transparency of oil revenue and accountability in the supplier nations? Given that the US and other foreign companies are prospecting for new petroleum reserves in parts of the developing world, ranging from the Caspian Sea to Africa, what role should the United  States and foreign oil and gas companies play in the broader issues of environmental protection and social welfare?

This roundtable will include policy makers, industry representatives, academic and policy experts, federal and international governmental officials, and non-governmental representatives that have expertise on the politics and economics of the resource curse. The participants will be asked to consider U.S. Foreign policy options to enhance U.S. energy security in the context of the governance of supplier nations and the actions of the consumer nations.