In defence of fossil fuels

Fossil fuels are the subject of a lot of hate these days. But without them and the cheap, reliable and abundant energy they have provided, we’d be lost, says Dominic Frisby.

Oil well pumps
84% of the world’s energy still comes from burning fossil fuels
(Image credit: © APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images)

Over the last seven or eight years we have seen the oil price fall from over $100 a barrel to $25, rally to $75, then fall again.

This next decline, which lasted a couple of years or more, took it into negative territory. Minus $36 was the cost, by some counts, of a future barrel of oil at the height of the corona panic.

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Dominic Frisby

Dominic Frisby (“mercurially witty” – the Spectator) is as far as we know the world’s only financial writer and comedian. He is the author of the popular newsletter the Flying Frisby and is MoneyWeek’s main commentator on gold, commodities, currencies and cryptocurrencies. He has also taken several of his shows to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

His books are Daylight Robbery - How Tax Changed our Past and Will Shape our Future; Bitcoin: the Future of Money? and Life After the State - Why We Don't Need Government

Dominic was educated at St Paul's School, Manchester University and the Webber-Douglas Academy Of Dramatic Art. You can follow him on X @dominicfrisby