The global geopolitical power map is changing. While oil has been king of the world for centuries, it’s becoming irrefutably clear that the once invincible resource and bestower of geopolitical might will soon be singing its swan song. As the world continues a trajectory toward clean energy transition on the eve of catastrophic climate change, the concept of peak oil has become an increasingly common refrain in headlines. Of course, the world didn’t always run on oil , and the geopolitical power map has been in near-constant flux since the Industrial Revolution. While the Middle East once held enormous power in international relations thanks to the region’s massive oil deposits, in recent years the United States upset political power structures around the world with a flood of cheap shale oil and gas flowing out of the West Texas Permian Basin. The United States’ shale revolution “ redrew the global […]