The Oil Factor in the First World War
From all the above it can be said that the main cause of World War I was the Germans" wish to use the Ottoman corridor in order to expand to the Middle East, which threatened the British interests in the Middle East and India. The importance of oil can be also seen from the fact that the English, the French and the Russians that had centuries" long disputes, managed to put these disputes aside, in order to form an alliance against the rise of Germany.
It is of course no coincidence that just before the outbreak of the First World War, oil engines had started replacing coal engines, dramatically increasing the geopolitical importance of the oil rich regions. Note that both England and Germany were very rich in coal but very poor in oil. At the following Wikipedia link, at section "Lord of the Admiralty", you can read that in 1911 Winston Churchill, as the head of the British Navy, ordered the replacement of the coal engines with oil engines, something that would soon become the norm for all navies and armies, making the 20th Century the century of oil. The use of oil would ensure greater speed for the British Naval ships. Moreover smoke would stop exposing their position.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill#First_Lord_of_the_Admiralty