You have now learnt more about the UAE before and after the discovery of oil on its territory. Do you think this brought only good things to the country? What can the UAE do to prepare for when the oil runs out?
Answers
Black gold!
It’s the backbone of billions of lives.
Warms up in the houses we live in. Helps us grow and prepare our food. Fuels the cars we drive and propels us through the soaring sky.
It’s undoubtedly one of the most important commodities in the world.
But what if it disappears?
What will happen to our world? Our food? The comfortable lives that we live?
It’ll be the beginning of our worst nightmare. Soon the UAE will run out of this once-abundant resource.
Way back in 2007, Sir Richard Branson had made the following prophecy.
“In five years’ time Oil in UAE will run out, but it has diversified its assets and interests enough with 95% of its income derived from tourism, property and music shops, other countries in the region should learn from what Dubai has done and they should beware that conventional fuel will begin to decline in the next five to 10 years.”
For more than 150 years oil and gas exploration companies in the Middle East have been extracting oil and selling it across the globe. But soon the tables are about to turn and Middle East, especially the UAE need to figure out new ways to sustain in the modern-day world.
The occasional wild camels on the road and the khaki sand dunes have been replaced by impressive skyscrapers and sportscars. One of the first signs of technological development is a 20-foot Goliath billboard of Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid which is rendered in mosaic solar panels.
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On the south side of Dubai, a 200-megawatt Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is situated in the clusters of the building. The solar park resembles a humongous mirror that stretches across 2 sq. miles melting into the horizon.
The largest solar plant in the US can generate 550 MW, but Dubai’s solar park is about to overpower it by a mile. In the next few years, additional 5,000 MW is expected to map around Dubai with an investment of $14 billion.
Oil in UAE
Once upon a time, Dubai was considered a city of superlatives: the gigantic fireworks display, the tallest building in the world, the busiest airport in the world. But as people evolve, the city of gold had taken a broad perspective on swapping the image with a city of startups and innovation.
“We decided that we will go to the future—we will embrace the future without worry,” says Mohammad Al Gergawi, the architect of Dubai’s vision for the next half-century.