From the moment when a dark, oily liquid fountained out of the ground in Pennsylvania in August 1859, the life of mankind was turned upside down. The era of cars and airplanes, tank armies, nylon and space flights has begun. Oil smells not only of sulfur, but also of huge, terrible money, power and mystery. The sun never sets on the Empire of Oil. Every day, hour and second, somewhere in the world they pump it, transport it, distill it and turn it into a variety of absolutely necessary things. Some say: the world is sitting on an oil needle. But the situation is much worse: oil is not a drug. She is the lifeblood of civilization. The great amplifier of everything - both good and bad. Either a gift or a curse. “Oil is the excrement of the devil, it brings trouble,” said one of the founders of OPEC, Perez Alfonso. In 125 years, humanity has consumed one trillion barrels. It will spend the next trillion in just 30 years. According to some estimates, oil reserves on Earth are just over two trillion barrels. Are we ready for a world without oil? What will it be? Mass famine? Food war? Cannibalism? Or maybe, on the contrary: the depletion of oil and gas is the very incentive that will push humanity to move to a new, higher level of civilizational development? But there may be only one attempt.