If you wondered why oil is worth fighting for, take a look at Fortune magazine's latest ranking of the world's billionaires.
The two richest people on the face of the Earth are oil barons, the magazine reported Tuesday.Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, oil-rich leader of the tiny Pacific sultanate of Brunei, retained Fortune's top title for the fourth straight year with an estimated worth of $25 billion, unchanged from 1989.
Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and clan, a focus of the Persian Gulf crisis, ranked second with assets worth $18 billion, also unchanged from last year.
Fortune spokeswoman Emma Dockendorff said those estimates were based partly on oil prices in mid-July, when one barrel of crude fetched about $18.
Prices have since surged to about $28 a barrel following Iraq's Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait and the U.S. move to protect neighboring Saudi Arabia. That price jump would make the sultan and the king potentially even wealthier.
The ranks of Fortune's richest - bankrolled by assets ranging from oil to sneakers to ballbearings - swelled by 25 names this year to 182 individuals and families, controlling a combined empire worth $471.3 billion.
That's up about 7 percent from last year and enough to erase the U.S. budget deficit, trade deficit and a good chunk of the S&L bailout tab.
Fortune released the fourth annual ranking in its Sept. 10 issue. It said the average entrant's wealth was only slightly higher compared with the past year after adjusting for inflation.
But the average fortune was still worth about $2.6 billion, which if invested in 7.5 percent U.S. Treasury bills would earn $534,000 a day.
"True, you shouldn't feel too sorry for folks who have their own islands and castles, use Renoirs for wallpaper and control, in the aggregate, $471.3 billion," Fortune said.
As competitor Forbes magazine did in its annual list released last month, Fortune ditched the Sultan of New York, Donald J. Trump, whose real estate and casino empire is bogged down in debt. The magazine had estimated his holdings at $1.7 billion last year.
Fortune placed Trump in a separate category of fallen tycoons, which also includes the reclusive Mars family of the United States, whose holdings include Mars Inc. candy bars, Uncle Ben's Rice and Kal-Kan pet food, worth $12.5 billion.
Fourth was Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, the wealthiest woman, with an untaxed personal fortune of $11.7 billion in riches ranging from 267,000 acres of royal real estate to racehorses, crown jewels and a vast stock portfolio.
Fifth was the Newhouse family of the United States, owners of a large media empire, worth $11.5 billion; sixth was the Reichmann family of Canada, with extensive real estate holdings valued at $11.1 billion; tied for seventh were Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, Japan's richest industrialist, and Arkansas retailing mogul Sam Walton, both valued at $7.3 billion; ninth was John W. Kluge of the United States, owner of media giant Metromedia Inc., valued at $7 billion; 10th was Tsai Wan-lin and family of Taiwan, owners of a construction and insurance empire worth $6.5 billion; 11th was the Thomson family, owners of Canada's biggest newspaper chain, with $6.2 billion.