Iran

Going forward, Iran will be a hugely important country. They have vast amounts of untapped oil reserves and with the removal of most economic sanctions, will finally be able to utilize them. The problem is the current state of their industry. And to understand that it requires a bit of a history lesson.

Way back in the day, the sixties and seventies. Iran and the US were BFFS forever. Iran had oil they were happy to sell, and the US needed oil. Plus the Shah loved everything American including its luxuries and military hardware. Unlike the Arab rulers of today, he was incredibly progressive and looked to modernize his country and Americanize it. He brought in huge numbers of skilled foreign workers to tap into those oil fields and became a global superpower. Iran got their production numbers up to around six million barrels per day, and that brought in huge amounts of wealth to the country. A sudden crush of wealth to a country that was ill prepared for it. The ruling family became absurdly wealthy, and corruption and inflation was rampant. This did not sit well with the general populace who started to listen to the Ayatollah and his calls for revolution. Things started to boil to a head, and then the US reneged on their deals with Iran and instead decided to buy their oil from the Sauds. The country exploded, the Ayatollah and his people took over got rid of anything linked to the west, like foreign or well trained oil workers. Shortly after, Sadam looked at a country in turmoil and attacked. Iran then spent most of the eighties throwing waves of soldiers to their death to keep Iraq at bay. All this time neglecting their infrastructure and losing all capable workers. By the time that war ended, most of the world was mad at Iran and shunned them and their oil. Which brings us to today. They are a country that may have the reserves to produce more oil than the Sauds, but their infrastructure and drilling methods and antiquated. And they lack the capitol and know how to modernize their existing fields and properly tap in to new ones. As long as the price of oil stays low no one is willing to invest in a country still that crazy. Once the price creeps back up to the $75 dollar range, companies will start to overlook that and start investing hard in the country.