Publication

This case study discusses the importance of oil to the global economy and the geo-strategic implications for the future. The author assesses data drawn from energy forecasting agencies and projections for the oil sector to 2030 and also examines the impact of economic growth, the structure of demand for oil from the transportation and industrial sectors, and the expansion of investment in existing oil fields to open untapped reserves. The paper concludes that because oil demand has become highly inelastic to price pressures and given the progressive depletion of the aging oil fields in the Northern-Hemisphere, global dependence will continue to concentrate on Persian Gulf oil.