Taking sole command, he can travel the world to flaunt his country's power as an oil exporter and massive market for imports.

The world's fourth-biggest oil exporter has inserted a clause in its oil contracts allowing it to request payment in alternative currencies.

The result was runaway inflation and hugely unpopular petrol rationing in the world's second-largest oil exporter.

The world's largest oil exporter said that repairs would take weeks, but officials said privately that the timeframe was more likely to be months.

The world's largest oil exporter has seen its vast foreign reserves, valued at $700 billion last year, reduced by more than $70 billion in the past 12 months.