OIL is a marvel. It is both a blessing and a threat. As far as the former goes, there is much to be said: convenient motorized transport, fast airplanes, electricity in homes, bright buildings, and all that goes to make almost every episode of human life these days—birth, study, work, illness and death—supported by petroleum energy. The blessing of oil can also distort: it makes a few people suddenly madly rich.

Oil is also a curs