Manya Rathore
Research expert covering India
History of oil - Statistics & Facts
Of the three main fossil fuels - coal, oil, and natural gas - oil is the most widely consumed fuel today and makes up almost a third of the world's energy supply. However, the large-scale consumption of petroleum is a relatively new phenomenon - fossil fuels only rose to prominence during industrialization in the 19th century, and it wasn't until the post-WWII era when oil came to the fore as a driving force behind global manufacturing, trade, and transport. The global oil industry was first dominated by Western companies, most notably by the 鈥淪even Sisters" (predecessors to BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell), before state-run industries in the OPEC bloc rose to prominence in the 1970s 鈥 from this point on, the global oil industry has gained much greater influence over international geopolitics, while oil prices have become more volatile. Oil has been instrumental to global development, but its extraction, transport, and consumption has been one of the largest drivers of human-made climate change, especially since the 1950s 鈥 as the world switches to greener sources of energy, finding a balance between maintaining current development and living standards while reducing oil consumption will likely be one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century.
