The increase in U.S. housing prices in the early 2000s in addition to subprime mortgages leading to borrowers defaulting on their loans were a part of the “housing bubble” burst, causing a recession (The Great Recession) in 2007 - 2009. [6][8] This affected other countries as well such as major banks in Western Europe who invested in American Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) and Iceland’s government collapsing and it’s three largest banks were nationalized. [9] The BP Statistical Review of World Energy announced in 2010 that the Global Recession caused a decrease in energy production in 2009. Natural gas consumption had the sharpest decline in 2009 compared to other energy sources and global production fell for the first time on record. [7]
