In 1999, the price of oil hovered around $16 a barrel. By 2008, it had _____（1）the $100 a barrel mark. The reasons for the surge _____（2）from the dramatic growth of the economies of China and India to widespread _____（3）in oil-producing regions, including Iraq and Nigeria’s delta region. Triple-digit oil prices have _____（4）the economic and political map of the world, _____（5）some old notions of power. Oil-rich nations are enjoying historic gains and opportunities, _____（6）major importers—including China and India, home to a third of the world’s population— _____（7）rising economic and social costs.

Managing this new order is fast becoming a central _____（8）of global politics. Countries that need oil are clawing at each other to _____（9）scarce supplies, and are willing to deal with any government, _____（10）how unpleasant, to do it.

In many poor nations with oil, the profits are being lost to corruption, _____（11）these countries of their best hope for development. And oil is fueling enormous investment funds run by foreign governments, _____（12）some in the West see as a new threat.

Countries like Russia, Venezuela and Iran are well supplied with rising oil _____（13）, a change reflected in newly aggressive foreign policies. But some unexpected countries are reaping benefits, _____（14）costs, from higher prices. Consider Germany. _____（15）it imports virtually all its oil, it has prospered from extensive trade with a booming Russia and the Middle East. German exports to Russia _____（16）128 percent from 2001 to 2006.

In the United States, as already high gas prices rose _____（17）higher in the spring of 2008, the issue cropped up in the presidential campaign, with Senators McCain and Obama _____（18）for a federal gas tax holiday during the peak summer driving months. And driving habits began to _____（19）, as sales of small cars jumped and mass transport systems _____（20）the country reported a sharp increase in riders.