December 10, 2012 By Robert Amsterdam

The New Cartelisation

Remember a few years ago when Russia was having fun talking about a natural-gas OPEC?  It was largely derided at the time considering wildly different nature of the trade of this commodity (not the same spot market as oil), and then wholly forgotten when the shale boom crashed prices.

But it would be a mistake to think that resource nationalism isn’t coming back in a big way.  According to an extensive and fascinating new report published by Chatham House, a number of factors are contributing to an intensifying emphasis on resource nationalism, expropriation, and a likely increase in disputes between governments, companies, and trade partners over diminishing resources of all kinds, from hydrocarbons to wheat and iron ore.

Below is an excerpt from the Financial Times covering the release of the report: