In Venezuela President Hugo Chavez is threatening to take control of several major projects from American and European firms. In Russia the government recently strong-armed Royal Dutch Shell into relinquishing control of a large oil field. Across the oil-producing world governments are responding to higher petroleum prices by imposing new taxes on oil companies and forcing the renegotiation of contracts. According to speakers at the 2007 Wharton Economic Summit such developments augur a new age for oil producers where both the style and substance of doing business have changed.