Oil crisis being faced in the world!

"Our country's leaders have three main choices: Taking over someone else's oil fields until they are depleted; carrying on until the lights go out and Americans are freezing in the dark; or changing our life style by energy conservation while heavily investing in alternative energy sources at higher costs." Quoted by Charles T. Maxwell is applicable not only to America today, but to each and every nation amidst this terrible state of Oil Crisis that has affected the economy of the world as a whole. Many nations are busy looking for alternative sources not to suffer the aftermath of depletion of this non-renewable source of energy, as Brazil has started replacing petroleum with ethanol and today boasts of not depending on import of petroleum and are self sufficient. Brazil became determined to end its dependence on oil in 1973 when the Arab oil embargo resulted in the quadrupling of its price on world markets. At that time, Brazil imported almost 80 percent of its oil, and was forced to use almost half of its foreign-exchange reserves to pay for oil imports. Germany launched a massive effort to get 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources. South America that was badly scarred by the oil crises of the 1970s, many Latin American nations have since diversified their energy mix by encouraging the use of biofuels
While in Great Britain, Prime Minister Brown’s efforts still remain criticized French President Sarozy has taken measures to cap fuel taxes if prices rose further. Many people showed their discontent and in Spain and Portugal about 10,000 protesters handed out free fish to underline their point that, with the current cost of fuel, they are practically giving their catches away. Other nations have started compromising with innovative steps. The United States too saw measures to cut down the consumption of fuel and it was found that in March 2008, the number of miles driven by American motorists was 11 billion fewer than in March 2007. The US Energy Department projects that this year, domestic gas consumption will drop by 190,000 barrels a day and overall petroleum use by 330,000 barrels a day. Airlines, which are struggling to break even, are reluctant to raise the price of tickets and are introducing fees for baggage handling instead. People in Asia suffered the shock after the government of Indonesia removed subsidies on fuel, leading to an overnight price jump of 30 per cent. With regards to Africa, that is at the sharp end of the oil shock and the inter-related surge in food prices. With millions living on the tiny margin between subsistence and starvation, fuel costs can quickly become a matter of life and death. In South Africa, the government announced yesterday that petrol prices for next week alone would rise by 5 per cent. This brings the increase in petrol prices so far this year to 33 per cent, while the price of diesel, used extensively in farming and heavy industry, has leapt 49 per cent.
Middle East saw is facing a worse condition even if they are the oil producers of the world. In Egypt, petrol prices have risen by as much as 40 per cent in a year. Yemen has been rocked by riots produces 80 per cent of the country's oil nation’s oil reaches them. In Gaza, where fuel shortages have long been a major source of seething discontent due to rationing by Israel and Hamas, Palestinians were forced to fill their cars with olive oil instead of diesel. Iran is acutely vulnerable to rises in fuel prices because, despite being the world's second largest producer, it is still forced to import about 40 per cent of its petrol because of a lack of refining facilities
Australian airline Qantas announced this week that it was intending to slash hundreds of jobs, freeze executive pay and shut down some domestic rural routes due to the heavy costs of Petroleum and it is an indication of just how much pressure the world's airline operators are under, it is estimated that this year's fuel bill would be £500m more than last year and the alarm continues in each and every nation.
These facts and figures are self explanatory to express the dreadful condition each and every nation is facing because of the Oil crisis and it is more of a combat while the quest continues to fetch an extra drop while our Government doesn’t seem to be helping too much, while the common man remains suffering especially due to inflation. India has somehow weathered the previous oil shocks, but the currently this crisis is the worst threat to its economy. Seventy-five per cent import-dependent India sees a sharp rise in inflation and threatened to undo the gains from a 9 per cent GDP growth rate.With domestic fuel prices in the air, the Congress-led government shied away from taking any stringent action to keep its poll hopes alive in an election year. The nation must actually thank its stars that terrorists did not choose to attack any of the several offshore installations and refineries and pipelines, which would have lead to a catastrophe as many of them are unmanned, leave alone guarded.
The problem globally, however, is not “running out of oil” as much as it is “running out of cheap oil”, which is the resource upon which every aspect of industrial civilization is built. Oil plays such a fundamental role in the world economy and it is the Arab-Israeli conflict triggered an energy crisis in the making. However the way the nations are coping up utilizing and encouraging the R&D by seeking for alternative resources is appreciable. Even though we run short of oil, while heavy prices are being imposed on the mass, what is the harm in looking for an alternative renewable source than burning these fossil fuels, this invites a new industrial revolution and also to think of ways to limit the harmful effects the environment, I personally see Oil crisis to be the end can actually be a new beginning. Stop reacting, start thinking and acting, than fighting in the boundaries it is important to look beyond and then when the demand reduces, this oil crisis won’t hit the globe this badly!