A More Secure Alternative

One of the most important ones will be that natural gas, unlike oil, can be a harbinger of peace; certainly in our part of the world. While oil has been an instrument of domination and a source of conflict, natural gas will promote co-operation amongst nations. The simple reason for this is that in natural gas trade the relationship between the buyer and the seller tends to be more symmetric and contracts are long term. These factors encourage and nurture co-operation.

Second, the growing global resources of oil and gas means that the club of Rome thesis of impending disappearance of exhaustible resources, such as oil, is unlikely to take place for the next century. Globally, hydrocarbons reserves, i.e reserves of both oil and gas, have shown a steady increase, even when one does not include other hydrocarbon resources such as gas hydrates and shale oil. If one includes them, the world