Once again, the beauty of the free market stands in stark contrast to the rot and violence of state intervention. Oil companies remain profitable not because of some mythical market villainy but because they're forced to adapt, innovate, and out-compete rivals—in other words, because of the price mechanism that Hayek so brilliantly defended as the engine of spontaneous order. Their "strategic shifts" and cost-saving measures are a testament to how voluntary market actors respond to changing conditions, creating wealth despite the burden of political uncertainty and state meddling.
OPEC+ continues to flaunt its cartel powers, blatantly distorting the natural ebb and flow of supply and demand, all while various states—each with their own flavor of gangsterism—scramble for short-term government revenue at the expense of long-term economic health. The actions of Russia, Saudi Arabia, and their cronies are reminders of the chaos sown by state-run enterprises and protectionist policies, in direct defiance of Nozick's insistence on individual liberty and the dangers of forced association.
It is appalling, though unsurprising, to see U.S. politicians—whether Biden or Trump—threatening to wield tariffs as weapons in yet another trade war. By what right does an American president dictate how India buys its oil? Rand was unequivocal: every such intervention is an act of looting, not only harming Americans through higher prices and fewer choices but coercively distorting the freedom of billions elsewhere. Retaliatory tariffs are nothing but a statist racket, punishing peaceful exchange and bending private decision to government will.
If the West wanted to hurt Russia, the most effective, moral, and libertarian option would be to open all markets, drive prices down, and bankrupt Putin through the relentlessly efficient mechanism of global competition. But no: state after state would rather bludgeon the market, propping up inefficiency and sowing global instability.
The bottom line is this: Oil giants outperform because governments cannot kill human ingenuity, even with regulation, sanctions, and price controls. Every "geopolitical tension" in this story is a result of political meddling, not the free market. The world would be freer, richer, and more just if governments got out of the way, letting producers and consumers freely negotiate value on open global markets. The only real "crisis" is the persistence of state power, not the profits of companies that actually deliver energy.