With rising oil prices, if countries decided to curtail their consumption - akin to a directed economy - to reduce purchases to a minimum and even refusing to buy above a certain value, what could that cause?
The first reaction I’d expect would be production cuts to hold the prices but, technically, those are already happening. Demand is just not following.
It would never happen. The number of oil-buying countries far outnumbers the number of oil-selling countries. Eventually, one buyer will submit to temptation and buy too early, causing everyone else to hurry up and try to get theirs while the getting is good.
If it did succeed, oil-sellers would probably just refuse to sell because they’re not making money, so why should they? They’re not the ones who need money; you’re the ones who need oil.
Yup, prisoners dilemma style.
In the meantime, you’d really piss off everyone in your country depending how long and how fast you go through reserves. Some regions would obviously fare better or worse than others, but it wouldn’t last that long for almost anyone