Oil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Oil - Essay Example Oil is the world’s biggest industry. It has often been referred to as the â€Å"black gold† and the devils excrement. Oil is found in the world’s most democratic and well governed countries such as Norway and Canada and also in some of the most autocratic nations such as Saudi Arabia and Nigeria (Roberts, 2004). In countries like Ghana and Nigeria, oil has become a curse. When oil was being mined in Ghana, the local people hoped for a better living standard and an improved sanitation. Everyone in Ghana was very excited and waited anxiously for the mining of oil for the first time in the country. They hoped that Ghana would be able to break the â€Å"curse† that had been associated with the mineral. This event only saw a few getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The same problem faced its neighbor Nigeria which is the largest crude producer in the continent. There was such a big gap between the rich and the poor because of corruption in the oil industry in Nigeria (Roberts, 2004). Oil on the other hand has had a positive influence to all the countries that have mined it. Despite all the negative impacts of oil, countries have been able to develop and upgrade their infrastructure. Third world countries have been able to export their oil to developed countries and have been able to use this to put up infrastructure like roads, schools and even hospitals. Oil has been referred to as ‘power’ in terms of its influence in political dominance and control. Oil is needed in order to grow food, put up infrastructure, manufacture food and transports them to the market and to advance technology. However, it lubricates both national and international politics. The following are some of the reasons that make oil such a powerful political force in the world today. We need oil every day in order to survive. Oil is universal and it is cheaply available, we do have other sources of energy such as electricity but there has not been any other