Sunday September 25, 2005

Peak Oil Crisis : Zimbabwe

peakoil.com -> fcnp.com, peakoil.com (thread) -> washingtonpost.com :

When the historians come to write the history of the 21st Century, they may well record that the African nation of Zimbabwe was the first to succumb to peak oil. When the price of oil started climbing into the $65+ range, official oil imports simply stopped. The country currently does not have the foreign exchange to purchase oil and it seems nobody is willing to extend credit on acceptable terms.

By last week, nearly all buses and commuter taxis in the capitol, Harare, had stopped running, forcing tens of thousands to walk to work. Private cars still on the road are being fueled with $36 a gallon black market gasoline. There are no trash collections, no ambulances, or operating public works vehicles. Only one fire truck has any fuel left. The police immediately commandeer any fuel they come across. Clean water and electricity are available sporadically. Hospitals are out of supplies and the staff is fleeing. What was once one of the cleanest, most modern cities in Africa is nearly finished.

In the case of Zimbabwe, all this human misery is not completely attributable to peak oil and unaffordable gasoline; an abysmally incompetent government is playing a major part in the country's economic demise well in advance of better governed nations. It is, however, representative of what we will see again and again as oil depletion sets in.

See also :

1. Africans hit hard by oil prices
2. Zimbabwe on brink of financial collapse

(2005-09-25 13:22:40 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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