The oil and gas industry remains one of the world's biggest and most complex. Yet it is also now becoming one of the world's shakiest.

But before the champions of green energy raise too loud a cheer, waving happily goodbye to hydrocarbons and their dangerous emissions, they should pause to look at the dangers, as well as the undoubted longer-term gains.

A sudden demise of the oil giants, both the still vast international oil and gas companies and the even bigger national oil giants, would have devastating consequences for world financial stability, for billions still depending on cheap energy (almost 40 percent of humanity) and of course for geopolitics generally.