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Rising global demand for oil provoking new energy crisis |
| Home | (IHT) - With oil prices approaching the symbolic threshold of $100 a barrel, the world is headed toward its third energy shock in a generation. But today's surge is fundamentally different from the previous oil crises, with broad and longer-lasting global implications. Just as in the energy crises of the 1970s and '80s, today's high prices are causing anxiety and pain for consumers, and igniting wider fears about the impact on the economy. Unlike past oil shocks, which were caused by sudden interruptions in exports from the Middle East, this time prices have been rising steadily as demand for gasoline grows in developed countries, as hundreds of millions of Chinese and Indians climb out of poverty and as other developing economies grow at a sizzling pace. |