Energy has an essential place in the global economy. Crude oil and fuels produced from it, such as fuel oil and gasoline in particular, keep the economy going. If oil prices rise, the global economy can falter. The industrialised world first experienced this dependence during the oil crises in the 1970s when the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reduced their supply quotas, causing oil prices to rocket. Since then governments in the industrialised world have been attempting to reduce their dependence on energy imports. But even forty years after the first oil crisis fossil fuels continue to be of enormous importance for the global economy.