The Energy World is Flat: Opportunities from the End of Peak Oil

Chapter TwoLessons from the Internet Revolution and the Dotcom Bubble

Of all the things I have lost, the one I miss the most is my memory.

Mark Twain

He who knows how will always work for he who knows why.

David Lee Roth

I finished reading The World is Flat¹ shortly after it was published. Four years had passed since the internet bubble had burst, and the word “dotcom” still carried very negative connotations. Many investors were left with a bitter taste.

It was easy to lose perspective of the bigger picture of what the internet revolution had done. It was easy to get lost in bubbles and valuations. But Thomas Friedman was an eye opener for me. His “post-mortem” analysis brought a new dimension.

The dotcom bubble had accelerated the impact of the internet revolution, and with it, the flattening of the world.

The internet has revolutionized the way we do business. But in the energy sector, not many things have changed. I suffered a few episodes of kidnap scares and terror threats when I was in the oil industry. We had to travel with an army of bodyguards and various vehicles and still, at least on three occasions, we were attacked by professional kidnappers aiming at the funds of the energy industry. One day, after a violent episode in Caracas, a colleague said “in a few years all will be done by video call and there will be no need for this”. Twenty years later, the energy business is still about meeting face to face …But technology and efficiency are gradually eroding peak ...