But indeed the task was not an easy one. I was to speak at the very headquarters of the organization created by the likes of Henry Kissinger in the immediate aftermath of the 1973 Arab oil embargo. IEA was to act as the OECD energy watchdog and balance out the growing OPEC clout in the mid-70s. It was to check mate the OPEC. And the perspective of the two, on numerous issues, differs to this day.

And there I was, required to put across a contrasting perspective — that of the producers’. And my brief was clear. I was talking there, at the IEA board room in the capacity of an analyst coming from the producing region — but — not as the spokesperson of the producers’ — OPEC. I was on a jihad and an intellectual one; if I am allowed to borrow that controversial term.

Good old friend Fatih Birol, the chief economist at the IEA, often described as the face of the IEA on the global scene, made the first move a few months ago. While we were lunching at a somewhat spicy, Pakistani restaurant in Riyadh then, he asked me if I could come over to Paris and deliver a talk at the IEA headquarters delineating the producers’ view point. The invitation was too tempting — from an intellectual point of view. And the Friday talk was in fulfillment of that commitment.

And the talk was keenly awaited, it now seems. From Ambassador Richard Jones to David Fyfe, there were some 40 to 50 people, including almost the entire hierarchy of the IEA were present at the IEA board room that Friday afternoon. "I had rarely seen so many senior people coming over to a talk at the IEA board room," Fatih later told me over the wonderful lunch.

The presentation was simple. There was a definite passion behind it. It began with the very concept of geopolitics and its impact on oil, stressing that many problems in the energy world today were on account of this — much beyond the control of the producers. And then it raised the question why OPEC that controls hardly 40 percent of the global markets today, is blamed for all the woes of the market, becoming in the process the proverbial punching bag? And if the dairy producers could try and control market for optimal reasons, why can't the OPEC?

It then went on to address the romanticism involved with the issue of oil embargo, raising the specter, if any such embargo is even possible in the current environment. The conclusion was straight forward — even if the producers’ wanted to go ahead on such a suicidal mission, such a possibility was neither feasible nor possible today, for more than one compelling reasons.

The presentation also touched on the very myth of energy independence, stressing absolute independence was not at all a possibility. "It is an objective that cannot and should not be pursued, for it also emanates wrong signals to the market."

The talk also highlighted some of the major issues confounding the producers, the excessive speculation in times of flux, the push from the Western world to let the IOCs control some of the assets despite the fact that the NOCs seem to be doing well at least in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the history of the Seven Sisters, the still ongoing peak oil debate in complete disregard of the endless oil all around and the repercussions of this ‘politically motivated’ debate, the selective discrimination against crude and the growing stress on diversification away from it, the political dimensions of the climate change debate, the galloping cost of incremental production and the impact of the changing crude geo-political developments on international relations.

This was not the perspective the OECD energy leaders receive on a regular basis. This must have been different. While declaring the house open for questions after the talk, host of the day Fatih underlined. "While Rashid takes me to a spicy, Pakistani restaurant when I am in Riyadh, his presentation today was lot more spicy than the food in that restaurant." That was a major compliment!

And the mood was apparent. The very first question was if there was any greater awareness among the producers’ of the growing consumptions in their countries and that fuel subsidies distort the market and contribute to increasing consumption. The answer could not be anything but yes, for even Aramco has been highlighting in very clear terms that the galloping consumption in the Kingdom needed to be controlled.

There was question about the possible role of OPEC over the next 50 years — and the answer was simple. Although crude would continue to play a significant role in the overall global energy equation for many more decades to come, yet the intensity of oil would definitely go down. And that is why people like Sheikh Zaki Yamani have been emphasizing; 50 years hence, OPEC may not be there in the shape as it exists today. Crude world is definitely a dynamic body.

There was a question on possible quota wars within the OPEC. While one could not deny that quota busting has remained an issue within the OPEC, yet the fact remains that despite all the differences, stabilizing forces within OPEC, people like the old hand Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi, have succeeded in maintaining the infighting in control and when the OPEC is required to act with some unison – one way or the other - it has succeeded in doing so, especially in recent years.

Indeed not every one was convinced of all the propositions put forward during the talk — neither was that the objective. Yet this was definitely a mission accomplished – of putting across the other view - to the best of my capabilities — that Friday afternoon.