THE FALL OF THE OIL EMPIRE?

Empires come and go. They play their respective roles for good or bad. In time, these empires become a part of mankind’s history.

The twentieth century witnessed the emergence of empires built on natural resources found in certain countries. The supply of such natural resources served to enrich those nations where it flowed in abundance. In turn, the enrichment of those countries delivered them a new-found sense of power in other spheres of man’s activities on earth.

As such, the resource-rich nations expanded their influence beyond their borders, thereby increasing their presence in the world’s economy. As their prominence and economic power grew, they began to dictate the demand and the supply of their respective resources to the world’s markets at large.

As a result, other countries, which rely desperately and heavily on the resources, began to “play ball” with the resource-rich countries. He who holds the much-needed resources wields the economic power on a greater scale. And this economic power is the basis of empire-building that propels a nation technologically, militarily, etc.

But empires have also been known to collapse. When the stipulated time for the demise of empires arrives, no power on earth can stop them from falling. Their death is certain. Whether the void created by the collapse of these empires is filled by others or not, it remains to be seen.

With the fluctuating price of crude oil going DING DONG, can one surmise that the crude oil empire is about to collapse for good?