Oystein Noreng is a professor and petroleum economist at the Norwegian School of Management. After the '91 the Norwegian government tasked Professor Noreng to study to the relationship between Islamist movements and the oil industry in the Middle East and North Africa. This resulted in the publication of his book Oil and Islam: Social and Economic Issues in 1997. While I have not read the book, I have read a speech of his on some of the findings, and consider this an appropriate thread to share it.

OIL AND ISLAM: MISUSE OF MONEY CAUSING SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TENSIONS
http://www.worlddialogue.org/pdf/speech9.pdf
Noreng also recently gave a speech at Flynt Leverett's Geopolitics of Energy Initiative at the New America Foundation titled: Restructuring World Economic Power Relations through High Oil Prices. I think it is particularly relevant to this thread.

Finally, I have come across two particularly good newpaper items:
Oil's Recent Rise Not as Familiar as It Looks: Traders, Not Political or Supply Concerns, May Be Pushing Fuel Toward $100, By Steven Mufson. Washington Post, November 5, 2007

Transcript: Interview with IEA chief economist, Financial Times, Published: November 7 2007.
Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency, interviewed by Ed Crooks and Javier Blas of the FT


Perhaps oil/gas deserves it's own thread? I some connections to small wars in the past, and in the foreseeable future. Albeit a particularly sensitive topic imho.