What are the political problems on crude oil?

Answer 1

Crude oil is vital in this day and age. Countries in the middle-east such as Saudi Arabia have economic control over other countries such as Great Britain who do not have oil resources but desperately need it. Many invasions resulting in war have been because of the amounts of oil in the invaded country. Many believe that George W Bush invaded Iraq for the oil masses and not because there were weapons of mass destruction there. Also ... After the oil crisis of the 1970s, petroleum shortages disappeared and prices stabilized. The world stopped worrying about oil, but the grim fact remains that the world's petroleum reserves are limited and they are rapidly being used up. What happened in the 1970s was simply that prices rose suddenly, so the search for additional petroleum supplies became compelling and the incentives to conserve oil increased sharply. Shifts in supply and demand of all fuels solved the global petroleum problem. But a much more serious problem looms in the future. Most of the world's large, economically viable oil fields have already been found, so a permanent oil shock is inevitable early in the next century. The question is not whether, but when, world crude oil productivity will start to decline, ushering in the permanent oil shock era. Some believe we have enough to last another 50 years at present rates. However, most of the large exploration targets for oil supply have been found, at the same time that the world's population (and, along with it, demand for energy) is exploding.