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Dramatic transformation awaits Asia if Strait of Hormuz crisis persists
Just as Europe’s oil demand never recovered from the shocks of the 1970s, the current crisis could do the same in Asia.
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Developments are driving a rush for alternatives – and the winner each time is clean energy.
PHOTO: REUTERS
David Fickling
The dizzying changes wrought by energy shocks are only ever seen in the rearview mirror.
When the 1973 and 1979 oil crises first swept the world, analysts assumed the future would be business as usual. Crude demand from Western Europe would remain broadly stable throughout the 1980s, according to a declassified 1982 analysis for the Central Intelligence Agency. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forecast in 1978 that its imports would rise to 35 million barrels by 1985.
