The best argument

We can’t get a break. The price of gasoline and diesel will supposedly increase again next week. Analysts warn if the rise in world oil prices continues, local gasoline or diesel prices may reach P100/liter. That’s unfathomable but not far from happening. The US has announced it will no longer buy Russian oil. Other countries like the UK are also following suit as sanctions for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On the other hand, Putin countered if they could no longer sell their oil, the price would reach $300/barrel. I can’t imagine its impact on the world, but it surely is not good. Similar events are what led to the outbreak of World War II.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said it will increase daily oil production to help alleviate the crisis and will encourage OPEC to follow suit. OPEC is the largest group of oil-rich producing countries, and they have control over whether to increase or decrease oil output. Their hands are on the spigot, and they can increase or decrease the output as they please. Naturally, when the world's demand is high and oil output is low, prices rise. The past two years have seen the price of oil fall sharply due to the pandemic. But now that life seems to be slowly returning to normal, they want to recover their losses. As if these billionaires have been suffering for the past two years.

The only problem is Russia is part of the so-called OPEC+ and they have an agreement to gradually increase oil output to maintain control of the price. Other OPEC members such as Saudi Arabia must be convinced to increase output, so oil prices fall significantly but they have issues with the US, to begin with. Venezuela and Iran aren’t exactly buddies of the US either.

This is the best argument as to why it is necessary to find alternative sources of energy for the planet. Reliance on fossil fuel is untenable. We should have more electric vehicles that receive their charge from electricity generated by hydroelectric plants, solar energy, and even the harnessing of the wind. Geothermal energy must also be utilized. These are the renewable energy sources that should be studied, improved, and maximized. We cannot depend on countries that will not hesitate to make the world miserable by simply reducing oil output just to make a good profit. Kudos to the UAE for their initiative. I only wish other countries would do the same. As for the country, the search for oil and gas in the West Philippine Sea should commence. We talk about the possibility of a lot under the seabed of our waters. So let’s go get them.