Oil Politics a Modern History of Petroleum - Essay Example

Oil is the world’s biggest industry. It has often been referred to as the “black gold” and the devil's excrement. Oil is found in the world’s most democratic and well-governed countries such as Norway and Canada and also in some of the most autocratic nations such as Saudi Arabia and Nigeria (Roberts, 2004). In countries like Ghana and Nigeria, oil has become a curse. When oil was being mined in Ghana, the local people hoped for a better living standard and improved sanitation. Everyone in Ghana was very excited and waited anxiously for the mining of oil for the first time in the country.

They hoped that Ghana would be able to break the “curse” that had been associated with the mineral. This event only saw a few getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The same problem faced its neighbour Nigeria which is the largest crude producer in the continent. There was such a big gap between the rich and the poor because of corruption in the oil industry in Nigeria (Roberts, 2004). Oil on the other hand has had a positive influence on all the countries that have mined it. Despite all the negative impacts of oil, countries have been able to develop and upgrade their infrastructure.

Third world countries have been able to export their oil to developed countries and have been able to use this to put up infrastructures like roads, schools and even hospitals. Oil has been referred to as ‘power’ in terms of its influence on political dominance and control. Oil is needed in order to grow food, put up infrastructure, manufacture food and transport them to the market and advance technology. However, it lubricates both national and international politics. The following are some of the reasons that make oil such a powerful political force in the world today.

We need oil every day in order to survive. Oil is universal and it is cheaply available, we do have other sources of energy such as electricity but there has not been any other better substitute of energy like oil (Parra, 2004). Secondly, oil is rare. According to scientific calculations, oil is depleting at a very fast rate and making the world crave more oil to sustain its energy. Planes, trains and even automobiles all rely on oil whether its jets or tankers all need oil to function as a cheaper source of energy compared to electricity or any other energy source. Countries have been rising up against each other because of oil. Most countries like Russia, the United States, Germany and many other countries have had seriously contentious conflicts about oil. Countries like the United States will try and use the political myth that they have in order to get enough supply of oil so that they never run out of it (Phillips, 2006).

Nearly all governments have agreed on the ability of the oil to be able to reach those countries that are oil-thirsty and they serve. This means that those countries that are supplying oil to the oil deprived countries will do anything even if it means working with other countries in order to supply the oil.