Home  >  The Real Story  >  The future of oil
The Real Story
The future of oil
The Real Story
Nov 15, 2019

The state owned Saudi oil company, Aramco, is considered to be the most profitable business in the world. In the coming weeks it plans to raise billions by selling shares publicly for the first time. Despite the proliferation of green technologies and a rise in environmentalist movements which are calling for an end to fossil fuel dependency, the International Energy Agency believes that global consumption of oil will continue to grow for another twenty years. Analysts say this is mainly due to the continuing growth of the Asian economies. It's not just Saudi Arabia looking to cash in on the continuing demand for oil. Iran says it too is hoping to earn billions of dollars if it can extract oil from a newly discovered field close to its border with Iraq. So why is the world still so reliant on oil? What is driving the current growth in oil production and how long will it last? Can the countries that rely on oil as their main source of income move onto other things when demand begins to fall? Paul Henley and a panel of expert guests discuss the future of oil.

More Episodes



Mar 27, 2024
Bonus: Sam Bankman-Fried's multibillion dollar FTX fraud

A bonus episode from The Global Story podcast.

Sam Bankman-Fried was the golden boy of cryptocurrency. He was dubbed the king and saviour of the industry. But this week he will be sentenced to possibly decades in prison for fraud and money laundering, and his firm, FTX, went bankrupt.

Joe Tidy, the BBC's cyber correspondent tells us about SBF - the man he interviewed before his trial. And Erin Delmore, our North America business correspondent explains what his downfall means for the future of crypto.

The Global Story brings you trusted insights from BBC journalists worldwide. We’re keen to hear from you, wherever you are in the world. We want your ideas, stories and experiences to help us understand and tell The Global Story. Email us at [email protected] You can also message us or leave a voice note via WhatsApp on +44 330 123 9480. #TheGlobalStory

The Global Story is part of the BBC News Podcasts family. The team that makes The Global Story also makes several other podcasts, such as Americast and Ukrainecast, which cover US news and the war in Ukraine. If you enjoy The Global Story, then we think that you will enjoy some of our other podcasts too. To find them, simply search on your favourite podcast app.

This episode was made by Peter Goffin, Neal Razzel, Beth Timmins and Alix Pickles. The technical producer was Matt Hewitt. The assistant editor is Sergi Forcada Freixas and the senior news editor is Jonathan Aspinwall.


26min 39sec

The future of oil

--:--
--:--