On May 10th 2001, Petroanalysis dealt with a question that has now become the centre of world debate. The report then said:
"The White House seems to be the sole holder of the truth. The new leadership in the US is rediscovering the fact that the country's present hydrocarbons production is insufficient and that it has been declining in a similar way as it did from the late sixties to the early seventies. At that time this situation was baptized as the 'energy crisis' and marked a turning point in the industry's structure, history and interrelations."
President George W. Bush's "National Energy Policy Report, May 2001", aims to "enhance energy security" by having the United States work with allies to "expand the sources and types of global energy supplied, especially in the Western Hemisphere, Africa, Central Asia and the Caspian region."

Regarding this, Robert E. Ebel, Director of the Energy Programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, explained in April 2002 that:
"The media seems to take particular pleasure in asking the question: Are we (the US) in danger of running out of oil anytime soon? ... No, we are not.

Since the end of World War II, when it took over from a weakened Britain, the US has served as the Western world's guarantor of Gulf stability. And on this question, Michael Ledeen, member of the American Enterprise Institute, and key intellectual in the group of neoconservatives shaping the Bush policy considered, in March 2002, that:
"Iraq is a battle, not a war. We have to win the war, and the only way to do that is to bring down the terror masters, and spread freedom throughout the region.
Cohen and O'Driscoll argue that
"The Bush administration should provide leadership and guidance for the future Iraqi government to undertake fundamental structural economic reform. This process should include a massive, orderly, and transparent privatization of state-owned enterprises, especially the restructuring and privatization of the oil sector."
The importance of this for OPEC countries can be appreciated.

Furthermore, the question of US-Russia oil relations is a core issue given the asymmetry of power and the concept of a post-Post-Cold War World. This can be appreciated by the remarks of Ambassador Richard N. Haass, Director, Policy Planning Staff at the State Department, made in June 2002.
"Given today's international landscape, it is clearly in the interest of both the US and Russia that Russia be fully integrated into this post-Post-Cold War world... the United States and Russia must accord a high priority to the economic and commercial aspect of the relationship, including energy policy."

Going back a little in history, on 11th September 1990, President George Bush senior delivered a historic speech to the US Congress on Iraq's occupation of Kuwait. He said the crisis offered a rare opportunity for co-operation:
"Out of these troubled times, a new world order can emerge: a new era, freer from the threat of terror." He also spoke clearly of "vital economic interests".