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The latest reference case from OPEC’s World Energy Model, OWEM, sees world oil demand growing to 88 million barrels per day by 2010 and increasing by a further 11 mb/d to 99 mb/d by 2020. With the growth in oil production from developing countries and Russia offset by a secular decline in OECD production, OPEC is set to increasingly supply the incremental barrel, with production rising to 40 mb/d by 2010 and 51 mb/d by 2020. Against the backdrop of this reference case, this paper considers the implications of measures to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol. The initial scenario assumes that three OECD regions each impose a carbon tax that is sufficient to reach their own Kyoto emissions targets, resulting in a fall in OECD demand of 6.5 mb/d by the year 2010, compared with the reference case. This translates into a loss in annual OPEC oil export revenue of $23 billion. However, this scenario implies exceptionally high tax levels, and it is very likely that alternative options for abatement would be sought. Once full global trading in emissions is allowed, the cost imposed upon carbon‐use falls dramatically, down to $15 per tonne of CO 2 , bringing OPEC revenue losses down to below $12 bn per annum. There may perhaps be only limited scope for OPEC to defend its oil revenue by adopting a firm price strategy consistent with significant production restraint. However, the idea of joint production restraint with non‐OPEC could lend some plausibility to the idea of using market management to ensure steady oil export revenue that would otherwise be eroded by climate change mitigation policies.