One way of interpreting Indonesia’s long overdue departure from Opec is to say that the country became a net importer of oil because of poor management of supply: by failing to invest enough in exploration and development, Opec’s only Asia-Pacific member forfeited its place in the oil exporters’ cartel.

There is some truth in this. Indonesia, like many other territories endowed with oil and gas, has made life so awkward for foreign investors over the past two decades that its oil output has started falling sooner and declined faster than expected. It became a net importer in 2005 and quit Opec last week.