Autumn 2011- Wealth Management

Summary of events

Popular uprisings demanding democratic reforms that have already toppled autocratic regimes in Tunisia and Egypt now threaten vast swathes of the Middle East and parts of Africa. While Libya is currently garnering most attention, Algeria, Jordan, Iran, Bahrain, Yemen have all recently experienced mass demonstrations. To a lesser extent, unrest has also emanated out of Morocco, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Many of these nations are large oil producers.

It has been estimated that the Middle East holds around two thirds of the world's proven oil reserves and almost half of its gas reserves. Since the start of the industrial revolution our reliance on oil as a source of energy has proliferated. From an economic perspective the importance of oil cannot be understated. To highlight how important oil is to the global economy we need look no further than the 1970's.