There has been a historical reliance on low oil prices, and it is oil that has literally fuelled the world over the last century, resulting in huge economic expansion and a massive increase in population rates. The world can only sustain growth by oil remaining at a reasonably low price that does not create a massive trade deficits in the countries. At the same time, the world's largest oil reserves are held by Saudi Arabia, followed by those of Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Russia. If Hubbert Peak occurs and oil becomes a progressively scarcer commodity, there may be political and economic tension between the principal producer nations and the principal consumers. The United States benefits from having the current petrodollar, so it is trying to make sure that the dollar is not superseded by any other currency on the oil market.

Some observers see the actions of the U.S. government in the middle east, including the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, as the continuation of a long-term geopolitical struggle driven by the need of a nation built upon diminishing domestic oil resources to secure replacement oil supplies from overseas at an acceptable price.

Its also possible that the boldness exhibited by current leaders in oil producing countries is driven by realization of oil production has peaked. Peaking oil has an effect of moving power from the consumers to the suppliers. This is well supported by the fact that countries like Venezuela, Russia and Iran are currently engaging in policies unimaginable a few years ago. This effect is amplified by the recent entry of China in the global oil market, which allow the suppliers to play the West against the Asian tiger.

An Oil Depletion Protocol has been proposed as a way to mitigate the risk from a peak in the world's production of oil. Adoption of the Protocol means that "oil importing nations would agree to reduce their imports by an agreed-upon yearly percentage (the World Oil Depletion Rate), while exporting countries would agree to reduce their rate of exports by their national Depletion Rate."

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