Oil and the Silk Road

The global supply of oil is depleting at unprecedented levels despite the efforts of many developed nations to deal effectively with the problem. National dependencies on oil have created ripple effects in the global economy that are manifested primarily by restructured world oil markets and the political aspirations of producer and consumer nations with regard to oil exploration, refinement, transportation, and pricing ("Annual Energy Review," 2012).

Just as the historic Silk Roads were the hubs of economic exchange across Eurasia, so too is oil in the Central Asian oil pipelines is core to economic trade (Waugh, 2009). For centuries, silk was a major currency that fueled long-distance trade (Waugh, 2009). Today, oil has eclipsed silk in long-distance international trade (Waugh, 2009). From 400 BC to 1600 CE, the goods traded on the Silk Roads could not be had through any other methods than trade with...
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