Slick and trending: 'oil is the new data'

What goes around, comes around. Well, sort of. In the world of economic trends, where catchphrases pirouette across boardrooms and cocktail parties, a sly contender has slinked on to the stage: ‘Oil is the new data.’ Forget Silicon Valley’s smarty-pants version trending in pre-Amrit Kaal: ‘Data is the new oil‘. At least hold that thought since fossil fuels are not going in a hurry anywhere, certainly not to non-existing Planet B.

So, while you sing hosannas about gigabytes, algorithms and AI, bad ole oil is reclaiming its seat at the cool kids’ table. Forget about data centres, let’s get heavy about drilling rigs and pipelines and frack around a bit. Move over, tech nerds; the new-age oil barons are the new geeks in town, swapping lines of code for barrels of crude.

This catchphrase isn’t just a linguistic twist – it’s a nod to the evolving power dynamics of global economics. Oil – whether it’s Opec, Nopec or Russian, regains its swagger, strutting down the runway of relevance. Forget about virtual reality, it’s the real reality of barrels and prices that’s making the waves again. If you’re still stuck with ‘Data is the new oil,’ honey, you need to be (oil) slick.