Oil

Today I heard of a conversation with a Texan oil producer. He didn't want to invest in oil wells in the US or the North Sea at the moment. Russia, the Middle East and Africa are off-limits for him. He's sitting on cash and hoping that his company will be taken over. The problem is that the oil companies which have cash are situated outside the US and are not allowed to invest in the US oil industry. There is labour and technology in America and capital in the Middle East but no deals can be done because of capital controls and regulations.
There has been a huge transfer of wealth from energy consuming countries to the energy producers, namely $3 trillion between 2002-07. The top six energy consumers account for two-thirds of global energy demand, namely, the US, the EU, China, Japan, Korea and India.