Oil: The World’s Greatest Dispute

Oil has been around for millennia. The earliest record of oil wells was in China in 347 B.C.E., but oil was used well before that time for things like lamps and construction. Oil is one of the most used fossil fuels; it is formed over time under immense pressure and heat in the ocean from decaying plants and animals. Modern oil wells were first created in the Mid-19th century, and it influenced world disputes as early as World War 1. According to the Harvard Kennedy School, oil causes conflict in eight different ways, including resource wars, petro-aggression (meaning that federal oil exports supply governments with an individual source of income, so they don’t have to worry that domestic opposition may impact them financially, and so that they may buy support, and thus are more aggressive and more inclined to take risks), the internationalization of civil wars in petrostates (states whose economies rely on oil exports), financing radicals, attempted dominion of the oil market, and more.

In World War 1, generally considered to be the first war fueled by oil, dominance over the oil market was a crucial military tactic. Oil-powered vehicles like trucks, planes, and tanks were fueled by oil, and the Allies used this to their great advantage. Oil in the war was dominated by the Allies (Russia, France, Great Britain, and Belgium) and thus, the railroads of the Central Powers were no match. It was largely because of this advantage that the Allies were able to win the war. Oil was used in the Second World War in a similar way, as well as in the production of many weapons, leading to another Allied victory.

One of the most notable occurrences of oil in war was the Gulf War in the 1990s. The conflict began when Iraq invaded Kuwait for its oil reserves, as well as to expand Iraqi power. Persian countries like Kuwait are huge petrostates, and many wars like the Gulf War have occurred in this area. Oil also played a role in Iraq’s lust for Persian dominance in the Iran-Iraq War, just three years prior. Both wars were headed by Iraq leader Saddam Hussien, who, protected by his country’s oil exports, created numerous conflicts with petro-aggression.

While the recent surge in gas prices isn’t an international war of the same caliber, it is definitely still an issue caused by oil. Gas prices rose for two main reasons. The first is that with the start of the pandemic in 2020, people stopped using oil quickly, as traveling stopped and people were staying home, so oil manufacturing companies had to cut back their production drastically. Now, with the economy returning to normal, the demand for oil is rapidly increasing, and companies that have cut back are now struggling to supply. The second reason, causing a much more recent spike to the continuous increase since last fall, is the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Russia is a prosperous petrostate, and one of the world’s largest suppliers of oil. Yet, most Western countries, taking the side of Ukraine, stopped importing goods from Russia in order to hurt their economy, hurting their own economies as well. Unfortunately, until the Russian government stops its aggression, the US and other countries are stuck importing less oil for more money from other countries, and consumers will continue to see high, rising gas prices.

As important as oil is, it definitely won’t last forever. That is, unless we’re willing to wait millions of years for the natural processes of the environment manage to compress a whole bunch more animal carcasses. Studies across the world, including two by the journal Energy Policy, and the Millenium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere, predict that our oil and gas reserves will run out by 2060. Further, oil production creates many environmental concerns. Fracking is a technique used to break open rock formations to reach the oil and gas inside, and it is one of the main causes of concern. The process includes shooting a high-pressure solution of water, sand, and chemicals through a pipe drilled in the earth in order to create new fractures in rock formations and open up existing fractures, allowing oil and natural gas to flow into the well. Many of the chemicals used in this solution, called fracking fluid, are proven to be harmful to human health. Moreover, due to leaks and spills, this fracking fluid and its dangerous chemicals can enter lakes and streams, and contaminate drinking water. The process itself also uses a lot of water, which, though still a small amount relative to other industrial uses, can strain local resources in places where clean water is already scarce. Fracking also creates a lot of wastewater, made up of the used fracking fluid and other contaminants, which can enter the environment and contaminate drinking water further. Further, natural gas escaping the wells is a huge contributor to air pollution. Natural gas is made up primarily of methane, which is a greenhouse gas that traps 80 times as much heat as CO2.

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