Everyday some 16m barrels of oil leave the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. That is enough to fill a soft-drink can for everyone on earth, or to power every motor vehicle on the planet for 25 miles (40kin). Gulf oil accounts for 40% of global trade in the sticky stuff. More important, it makes up two-thirds of known deposits. Whereas at present production rates the rest of the world’s oil reserves will last for a mere 25 years, the Gulf’s will last for 100. In other words, the region’s strategic importance is set to grow and grow.
Or at least so goes the conventional wisdom, which is usually rounded out with scary talk of unstable supplies, spendthrift regimes and a potential fundamentalist menace. Yet all those numbers come with caveats. A great deal of oil is consumed by the countries that produce it rather than traded, so in reality the Gulf accounts for less than a quarter of the world’s daily consumption. As for reserves, the figures are as
A. "Some of the world’s bothersome hotspots are near the Gulf."
B. "Oil is big, but it is not the only reason to take the Gulf seriously."
C. "While the oil price keeps rising, the Gulf is an attractive to traders."
D. "Tighten thrift regimes on oil consumption, the single remedy."
Everyday some 16m barrels of oil leave the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. That is enough to fill a soft-drink can for everyone on earth, or to power every motor vehicle on the planet for 25 miles (40kin). Gulf oil accounts for 40% of global trade in the sticky stuff. More important, it makes up two-thirds of known deposits. Whereas at present production rates the rest of the world’s oil reserves will last for a mere 25 years, the Gulf’s will last for 100. In other words, the region’s strategic importance is set to grow and grow.
Or at least so goes the conventional wisdom, which is usually rounded out with scary talk of unstable supplies, spendthrift regimes and a potential fundamentalist menace. Yet all those numbers come with caveats. A great deal of oil is consumed by the countries that produce it rather than traded, so in reality the Gulf accounts for less than a quarter of the world’s daily consumption. As for reserves, the figures are
A. reassuring
B. changeable
C. paradoxical
D. exaggerated
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