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Assess the Claim That Oil Is More Important Than Water ?

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Assess the Claim That Oil Is More Important Than Water ?
Water is no doubt very important. Our ancestors survived and thrived without oil. Water was vital, for drinking, agriculture and sanitation amongst many other uses. However, with the advent of oil in the 1960s, the importance of water has been diminished to a point where oil is more important than water. In this modern era, energy use has skyrocketed, human population augmented greatly and the world, globalised. It is in this era, oil is more important because it is the crux of development of a nation as well as food production and distribution at a global scale. In addition to that, there are no other sustainable alternative energy sources to meet the energy demand and there is a sundry of petrochemical products.
Oil is a major impetus of the development of countries. The petroleum industry constitutes a salient portion of the oil-rich country’s GDP. The exports of oil account for 55% of the GDP of Saudi Arabia, and 33% for Venezuela. In addition, the oil industry has provided millions of people with jobs where five and a half million foreigners are employed in Saudi Arabia alone. Portions of the money earned by the foreigners are sent to developing countries which help their countries develop faster. With such lucre, the country is able to fortify its defences, infrastructure and even water sources. To be able to support an entire nation including millions of foreigners, oil is indeed an imperative for the development of a country.
Not only is oil a driving force of the economy, it also fulfils a basic need: food. In our almost seven billion population, food production must be able to cope with the demands. Only oil can achieve that. Traditional farming methods are indubitably feckless. The irrigation pipes, tractors and harvesters all require fuel. In the US, mechanised farms are a hundred times more efficient than traditional farms. Though water is needed to grow crops, the bigger issue here is the rate of food production. Before we move on, we need to

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