I don't think they meant that LITERALLY data is as important as oil. Obviously ALL economic activity is predicated on energy. (Oil or otherwise.) But data is s

I don't think they meant that LITERALLY data is as important as oil. Obviously ALL economic activity is predicated on energy. (Oil or otherwise.) But data is still extremely important. I think it might be more analogous to say that data has become as important as finance. Without finance a lot of things grind to a halt. Without data, I'd argue, a lot of things would grind to a halt. (Maybe even more things would grind to a halt than if finance disappeared?) But yes, without oil, (or, even better, without energy in general), everything grinds to a halt. It all stops.