Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Is it the end of the oil age?

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/09/17/is-it-the-end-of-the-oil-age 



The new energy order
Is it the end of the oil age?

Power in the 21st century

LeadersSep 17th 2020 edition

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Oil fuelled the 20th century—its cars, its wars, its economy and its geopolitics. Now the world is in the midst of an energy shock that is speeding up the shift to a new order. As covid-19 struck the global economy earlier this year, demand for oil dropped by more than a fifth and prices collapsed. Since then there has been a jittery recovery, but a return to the old world is unlikely. Fossil-fuel producers are being forced to confront their vulnerabilities. ExxonMobil has been ejected from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, having been a member since 1928. Petrostates such as Saudi Arabia need an oil price of $70-80 a barrel to balance their budgets. Today it is scraping along at just $40.


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