The World Naked Bike Ride is a global protest against oil dependency and urban pollution, promoting greater cycling safety on our roads, and encouraging body freedom for everyone. This book visually describes the environmental awareness event that is the WNBR, the history of how it started, the people who take part, and the motivations behind this very public and urgent demonstration. Including 250 photographs and images. Written and compiled by Richard Foley. With a foreword by Conrad Schmidt.

Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan and formerly part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, is a city built on and with oil. In fact, oil and urbanism in Baku have been completely intertwined, economically, politically, and physically in the spaces of the city. Its first oil boom in the late 19th century was driven by the Russian branch of the Nobel family modernising the exploitation of oil fields around Baku, and local oil barons pouring their new wealth into building a cosmopolitan city centre. During the Soviet period, Baku became the site of an urban experiment: the shaping an oil city of socialist man. This project included Neft Dashlari, a city built on trestles in the Caspian Sea, housing thousands of workers, schools, shops, gardens, clinics, cinemas and more. This first off-shore rig in the world became the emblem of Baku's second oil boom. Today, Baku is experiencing its third oil boom. For Baku's city planners and business elites, that future is based on a careful reading of Baku as a project in which urbanism and oil are inextricably linked. This new book investigates how oil stimulated urban development in Baku, and explores in detail the more complex and important question of how the disparate spatial logics, knowledge bases, and practices of oil production and urban production intersected, impacted and transformed one another. Based on a vast research project and drawing on rich and previously unpublished material, Baku - Oil and Urbanism is organised into three broadly conceived historical periods defined by the political, economic, technological conditions in which the interwoven evolution of oil and urban production unfolded. The book also features a new photo essay by celebrated photographer Iwan Baan.

Oil and gas are important to every aspect of our economy, yet the oil and gas industry is distinguished by its combination of increasing demands and decreasing discovery volumes--and it is an industry shrouded in an environment of extremely volatile pricing. Although the profits enjoyed by the oil and gas industry are enormous, the industry remains one of the most capital-intensive in a world where rising expenses continue to threaten to squeeze profit margins. Geopolitics may continue to be the most important variable in maintaining existing assets and in successfully achieving new discoveries and carrying out their subsequent development. But finding new oil and gas reserves is becoming more challenging and the places where hydrocarbons are being found are more remote. Thus technology advances are also a key variable to enable exploration, drilling and development to become economically feasible in some of these more difficult operating environments. For the last century oil and gas additions have exceeded demand but has this industry now reached a "peak oil" situation? Some experts argue we are on the cusp of maximum oil production while others suggest we are still about a decade away. Natural gas demand however, is rising at a slightly faster rate than oil. Natural gas may be the immediate replacement fuel for oil as a source of clean and efficient electric power generation. Three out of the top ten Fortune 500 companies were oil/gas companies in 2011. This short introduction to the oil and gas industry will focus on history, operations, major companies, outside market forces, regulation and the current challenges the industry faces. Such factors as finite natural resources, the environment, economics, geopolitics, and technology will all come into play in the narrative. The book will demonstrate how the leaders of this industry, former champions of progress, are now coming under scrutiny and being depicted as the biggest culprits of environmental degradation. Yet the industry is likely to continue to grow until some form of alternate fuels is developed. The oil and gas industry will continue to have an enormous impact on life on the planet.

A number of countries have recently discovered and are developing oil and gas reserves. Policy makers in such countries are anxious to obtain the greatest benefits for their economies from the extraction of these exhaustible resources by designing appropriate policies to achieve desired goals. One important theme of such policies is the so-called local content created by the sector the extent to which the output of the extractive industry sector generates further benefits to the economy beyond the direct contribution of its value-added, through its links to other sectors. While local content policies have the potential to stimulate broad-based economic development, their application in petroleum-rich countries has achieved mixed results. This paper describes the policies and practices meant to foster the development of economic linkages from the petroleum sector, as adopted by a number of petroleum-producing countries both in and outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Examples of policy objectives, implementation tools, and reporting metrics are provided to derive lessons of wider applicability. The paper presents various conclusions for policy makers about the design of local content policies."

As Hitler's Einsatzgruppen (mobile SS killing units) marched into the Soviet Union directly behind the advancing Wehrmacht to murder Jews and others, less well-known units were also following in the footsteps of the German armed forces. They were called, among other things, petroleum units, petroleum commissions, or technical brigades. Their mission was to seize and exploit the oil-producing areas of the conquered territories. Following the pillaging of oil in Poland, France, and the Low Countries, these predatory units were the latest examples of Nazi Germany's relentless efforts before and during World War II to achieve self-sufficiency in fuel. But only in the East - first in the Soviet Union and then in the Middle East - could Hitler find sufficient quantities of oil to free Germany of all external dependency and to provide the resources he needed to wage war indefinitely. To achieve his aim Hitler envisioned his armored columns advancing through North Africa and the Caucasus to a juncture somewhere in the Near East in what the historian Martin Blumenson called"the most gigantic pincer movement in history." In this prodigiously researched study, Dietrich Eichholtz tells the story of Nazi Germany's plans to establish a global oil empire, from the plan's inception in 1938 to its collapse in 1943.

Oil and natural gas are now acknowledged to be the driving forces of international politics. What has not yet been fully explored is how their delivery affects the geopolitics of the world.
Pipelines, once built, create new diplomatic realities - some states are newly connected, others isolated. Some states benefit economically, others lose out. Often new energy supply routes fall across political fault-lines, as in the case of India and Pakistan. In the case of the former Soviet Union, the existing pipeline network reflects an old political reality, and causes tension between the newly independent states and their former Russian master. With energy demand soaring in industrializing Asia, and the resurgence of great power rivalry, the politics and practicalities of pipelines become central to a proper understanding of world affairs.
In this groundbreaking book, Rafael Kandiyoti takes us along the pipeline networks, from Kandahar to the Caspian basin, from Ceyhan to China, and shows us how they form the foundation of the new geopolitical order. In the process, he demonstrates that the issue of energy supply revolves not only on hydrocarbon resources, but also on their delivery. This is an entirely new way to view the international politics of oil and natural gas and therefore crucial to any explanation of the tensions involving Central Asia, the Middle East, Russia, China, and Europe.

On 20 April 2010 the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig was destroyed by an explosion and fire, and the oil well began releasing oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill caused significant economic harm to the Gulf fishing industry because of fishery closures and consumer concerns related to the safety of Gulf seafood. Intermediate and long-term concerns are related to impacts on marine populations and degradation of fisheries habitat necessary for spawning, development of early life stages and growth. This book presents information related to damages caused by the oil spill to Gulf fisheries and wildlife and efforts to mitigate these damages. Many uncertainties exist because of the complexity and scale of Gulf fisheries and ecosystems that have been affected by the oil spill. Direct and indirect damages to fisheries and the Gulf environment are still being assessed and these efforts are likely to continue for years to come.

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident produced the largest oil spill that has occurred in U.S. waters, releasing over 200 million gallons into the Gulf of Mexico. BP has estimated the combined oil spill costs, including cleanup activities, natural resource and economic damages, potential Clean Water Act (CWA) penalties, to be approximately $41 billion. This book examines the many issues raised by the spill for policymakers, including the ability of the existing oil spill liability and compensation framework to respond to a catastrophic spill. The framework determines who is responsible for paying for oil spill cleanup costs and the economic and natural resource damages from an oil spill; how these costs and damages are defined and the degree to which, and conditions in which, the costs and damages are limited and/or shared by other parties, including general taxpayers.

Approximately two billion dollars a day of petroleum are traded worldwide, which makes petroleum the largest single item in the balance of payments and exchanges between nations. Petroleum represents the larger share in total energy use for most net exporters and net importers. While petroleum taxes are a major source of income for more than 90 countries in the world, poor countries net importers are more vulnerable to price increases than most industrialized economies. This paper has five chapters. Chapter one describes the key features of upstream, midstream, and downstream petroleum operations and how these may impact value creation and policy options. Chapter two draws on ample literature and discusses how changes in the geopolitical and global economic environment and in the host governments' political and economic priorities have affected the rationale for and behavior of National Oil Companies' (NOCs). Rather than providing an in-depth analysis of the philosophical reasons for creating aNOC, this chapter seeks to highlight the special nature of NOCs and how it may affect their existence, objectives, regulation, and behavior. Chapter three proposes a value creation index to measure the contribution of NOCs to social value creation. A conceptual model is also proposed to identify the factors that affect value creation. Chapter four presents the result of an exploratory statistical analysis aimed to determine the relative importance of the drivers of value creation. In addition, the experience of a selected sample of NOCs is analyzed in detail, and lessons of general applicability are derived. Finally, Chapter five summarizes the conclusions.

This is a history of the abuses suffered by Africa through colonial, imperial and capitalistic scrambles for oil that have plagued the continent for centuries. France, the US, Portugal, Spain and other western nations have continually plundered Africa's resources, leading to political corruption and the annihilation of democracy that continues to this day. Extraordinary stories reach far into the depths of domination and control. Neo-colonialism in Gabon, Yankee Landlords of Cabinda and the World Bank in Chad are explored, as is the growth of kleptocracy, the rise of multinational corporations and the legacy of slavery. Concluding with evidence of how Africans have refused to remain passive in the face of such developments, forming movements to challenge this new attempt at domination, this book challenges our understanding of Africa, raising questions about the consequences of our reliance on foreign resources.

In The Petroleum Triangle, Steve A. Yetiv tells the interconnected story of oil, globalization, and terrorism. Yetiv asks how Al-Qaeda, a small band of terrorists, became such a real and perceived threat to American and global security, a threat viewed as profound enough to motivate the strongest power in world history to undertake extraordinary actions, including two very costly wars.

Yetiv argues that Middle East oil and globalization have combined to augment the real and perceived threat of transnational terrorism. Globalization has allowed terrorists to do things that otherwise would be more difficult and costly: exploit technology, generate fear beyond their capabilities, target vulnerable economic and political nodes, and capitalize on socio-economic dislocation. Meanwhile, Middle East oil has fueled terrorism by helping to bolster oil-rich regimes that terrorists hate, to fund the terrorist infrastructure, and to generate anti-American and anti-Western sentiments about American support for oil-rich regimes and perceived Western designs on Middle East oil. Together, Middle East oil and globalization have combined in various ways to help create Al-Qaeda's real and perceived threat, and that of its affiliates and offshoots. The combined effect has shaped important contours of the Petroleum Triangle and of world affairs.

A sweeping analysis of contemporary world politics and American foreign and military policy, The Petroleum Triangle convincingly argues that it is critical to understand the connections among oil, globalization, and terrorism if we seek to comprehend modern global politics. What happens within the Petroleum Triangle will help determine if the death of Osama bin Laden will ultimately cripple Al-Qaeda and its affiliates or be yet another milestone in an ongoing age of terrorism.

As president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister was known for being a straight shooter, willing to challenge his peers throughout the industry. Now, he's a man on a mission, the founder of Citizens for Affordable Energy, crisscrossing the country in a grassroots campaign to change the way we look at energy in this country. While pundits proffer false new promises of green energy independence, or flatly deny the existence of a problem, Hofmeister offers an insider's view of what's behind the energy companies' posturing, and how politicians use energy misinformation, disinformation, and lack of information to get and stay elected. He tackles the energy controversy head-on, without regard for political correctness. He also provides a new framework for solving difficult problems, identifying solutions that will lead to a future of comfortable lifestyles, affordable and clean energy, environmental protection, and sustained economic competitiveness.

"The real story of global oil over the past twenty-five years is not about the spillover effects of Palestinians fighting Israelis, or terrorist attacks on U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, or Iraq's stormy relationship with Kuwait. It is not even about periodic small- and large-scale U.S. attacks on Iraq. Rather, the real story is about longer-term developments that have changed the international relations of the Middle East, politics at the global level, and world oil markets. These developments have increased oil stability." from the Introduction

Thirty years after OAPEC shattered world markets for oil, the Western world remains profoundly dependent on foreign, particularly Middle Eastern, sources of petroleum. U.S. political rhetoric is suffused with claims about the vulnerability caused by this dependence. Hence, many political analysts assume that a search for stability of petroleum supplies is an important element of contemporary American foreign policy.

Steve A. Yetiv argues that common assumptions about oil markets are wrong. Although prices remain volatile, Yetiv's account portrays a world market in petroleum products far more benign and predictable than the one to which we are accustomed. In Crude Awakenings, he identifies and analyzes real and potential threats to the global energy supply, including wars, revolutions, coups, dangerous alliances, oil embargoes, Islamic radicalism, and transnational terrorism. However, he also shows how some of these threats have been mitigated and how global oil security has been reinforced."

After World War II, the discovery and production of onshore oil in the United States faced decline. As a result, during the last half of the twentieth century, offshore prospects in the Gulf of Mexico took on new strategic value. Shell Oil Company pioneered many of the early moves offshore and continues to lead the way into "deepwater." For decades, the company dominated the Gulf of Mexico, developing more oil and gas fields there than any other firm. Tyler Priest's study is the first time the modern history of Shell Oil has been told in any detail. Drawing on interviews with Shell retirees and many other sources, Priest relates how the imagination, talent, and hard work of personnel at all levels shaped the evolution of the company. The narrative also covers important aspects of Shell Oil's corporate evolution, but the company's pioneering steps into the deepwater fields of the Gulf of Mexico are its signature achievement. Priest's study demonstrates that engineers did not suddenly create from scratch methods for finding and producing oil and gas from astounding water depths. Rather, they built on a half-century of accumulated knowledge and improvements to technical systems. Shell Oil's story is unique, but it also illuminates the modern history of the petroleum industry. As Priest demonstrates, this company's experiences offer a starting point for examining the understudied topics of strategic decision-making, scientific research, management of technology, and corporate organization and culture within modern oil companies, as well as how these activities applied to offshore development.

The environmental, the economic - and indeed the political - impact of the catastrophic 2010 blowout of BP's well in the Gulf of Mexico has highlighted the central part played by oil in the modern world. The fate of millions now depends on the ever-shifting value of petroleum and on the fortunes of the corporations that deliver it. The story of oil - how it came to play such a dominant role in the world economy, who controls its extraction, pricing and supply - is essential to an understanding of contemporary world politics. In this acclaimed book, Francisco Parra draws on his long experience in the oil world, including as the Secretary General of OPEC, to tell it. "Oil Politics "surveys the tumultuous history of the international petroleum industry, from its extraordinary growth between 1950 and 1979, presided over by the seven major oil companies, to the price revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, to the re-emergence of Russia as an important but uncertain supplier. Parra charts the changing power dynamics amongst the major oil suppliers and examines their relationships with the major oil importing countries, and how these concerns have impacted on foreign policy. Oil politics in the twenty-first century remain fraught with tensions, and this book offers a uniquely accessible guide to understanding this complex but vitally important subject.

The sensational human story of the hunt for oil, and the politics, power and personalities involved. Over the last 20 years, oil prices have soared from $7 a barrel to $147 and down to $37. Amid economic boom and bust, speculators, traders, politicians and monarchs have plotted to earn fortunes from oil, and prayed for salvation from unpredictable natural and man-made disasters. Behind the headlines are the crushing rivalries between men and women exploring for oil five miles beneath the sea, battling for control of the world's biggest corporations and gambling billions of dollars twenty-four hours every day on oil prices. Success or failure for all those extraordinary personalities depends on squeezing their rivals and squeezing the crude out of the rocks. Overweening vanity and greed absorb those titans whose ambitions are forging the world's quest for oil. Exploiting unprecedented close access to the lives of irrepressible traders in New York, oil-oligarchs in Moscow, corporate chieftains in Dallas and London, and wily politicians floating in jets across the globe, Tom Bower presents the untold story of the most important quandary of our times: why, if there is plentiful oil in the earth, does mankind face a dire shortage threatening our lives? Self-interest is propelling the squeeze and there seems to be no salvation.

The price and availability of oil and natural gas affects every American. That's why it is important that the Energy Committee's first hearing of the 110th Congress focused on the global oil situation and its implications for U.S. economic and national security interests. As a nation, we now depend on oil imports to meet sixty percent of our oil needs. Even modest disruptions in the world supply can result in price spikes at the pump, as we have seen in recent years. First, there is little surplus production capacity relative to global demand. Much of the current production is controlled by national oil companies that are often making political rather than economic decisions, and are not making the investments needed to maintain and expand production capacity. This book examines the geopolitical factors surrounding the acquisition of oil supplies.

Now newly updated, "America's Kingdom" debunks the many myths that now surround the United States's special relationship with Saudi Arabia, also known as "the deal" oil for security. Exploding the long-established myth that the Arabian American Oil Company, Aramco, made miracles happen in the desert, Robert Vitalis shows how oil led the US government to follow the company to the kingdom, and how oil and Aramco quickly became America's largest single overseas private enterprise. From the establishment in the 1930s of a Jim Crow system in the Dhahran oil camps, to the consolidation of America's Kingdom under the House of Fahd, the royal faction that still rules today, this is a meticulously researched account of Aramco as a microcosm of the colonial order.

The GCC petrochemicals industry is going through a period of unprecedented expansion. The global petrochemical producers and technology providers alike are investing billions of dollars in GCC petrochemicals projects. The strategies for GCC petrochemical investment suggested in this book take into account the entire value chain and discuss the appropriate actions at each point in a integrated manner. It is important for investment planners to understand these issues, in order to develop or modify their strategies that ensure expeditious development for robust petrochemical projects in this region.

This book is a valuable guide for engineering professionals involved with the day-to-day management of petroleum and other industry operations. The expert authors develop the concept of limiting constitutes, spill remediation, and waste disposal on site. The book is a how-to compendium for engineers involved in the remediation of 'Non-Hazardous' (i.e., non-nuclear) impacted waste and/or soil. This book contains techniques, data and recommendations for 'how clean is clean'. The book is the result of 10 years of research and experience in the clean-up of oil and gas field non-hazardous waste (NOW).

Oil leaks from aboveground tanks have contaminated soil and water, threatening human health and wildlife. To prevent damage from oil spills, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule in 1973. EPA's 10 regions inspect oil storage facilities to ensure compliance with the rule. EPA estimates that about 571,000 facilities are subject to this rule. Some states also regulate oil storage tanks. GAO determined (1) how EPA regions implement the SPCC program, (2) the data EPA has to implement and evaluate the program, and (3) whether some states' tank programs suggest ways for EPA to improve its program. GAO surveyed all 10 EPA regions and interviewed officials in EPA and six states selected on the basis of experts' recommendations, among other criteria.

The availability of low-cost energy from fossil fuels - in particular oil - has been the driving force behind postwar global economic growth, such that the petroleum industry has some of the world's largest companies. This book examines the economics of the oil and gas industry, from exploration, development and production, to transportation, refining and marketing. At each stage of the value chain, the key economic costs and considerations are presented in order to provide the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the workings of the industry. The book examines some of the unique economic challenges the industry faces, including negotiating international contracts with host countries (to gain access to hydrocarbons), managing the risks of recovery, implementing cross-border pipelines, dealing with huge variations in the taxation of refined products, and reacting to the effect of price control and subsidization in the OPEC nations which can create massive volatility in pricing. The search for low-carbon fuels, the impact of shale gas, the prospect of finite reserves, and the global political realities of the competing demands of oil-importing and oil-exporting countries are shown to make the sector high risk, but the economic rewards can be huge.

With oil around $100 a barrel, drivers wince whenever they pull into the gas station and businesses watch their bottom lines shrink. "Watch out," say doomsayers, "it will only get worse as oil dries up." It's a plausible argument, especially considering the rate at which countries like China and India are now sucking up oil. Even more troubling, the world's largest oil fields sit in geopolitical hotspots like Iran and Iraq. Some believe their nations need to secure remaining supplies using military force, while others consider dwindling supplies a blessing that will help solve the problem of global warming. But wait--is it really the "end of oil"? Absolutely not, says geologist, economist, and industry-insider Robin Mills. According to Mills, many ideas about petroleum depletion and its consequences are not just grossly overstated but plain wrong. Calmly and persuasively, he argues:

As OPEC has loosened its grip over the past ten years, the oil market has been rocked by wild price swings, the likes of which haven't been seen for eight decades. Crafting an engrossing journey from the gushing Pennsylvania oil fields of the 1860s to today's fraught and fractious Middle East, Crude Volatility explains how past periods of stability and volatility in oil prices help us understand the new boom-bust era. Oil's notorious volatility has always been considered a scourge afflicting not only the oil industry but also the broader economy and geopolitical landscape; Robert McNally makes sense of how oil became so central to our world and why it is subject to such extreme price fluctuations. Tracing a history marked by conflict, intrigue, and extreme uncertainty, McNally shows how-even from the oil industry's first years-wild and harmful price volatility prompted industry leaders and officials to undertake extraordinary efforts to stabilize oil prices by controlling production. Herculean market interventions-first, by Rockefeller's Standard Oil, then, by U.S. state regulators in partnership with major international oil companies, and, finally, by OPEC-succeeded to varying degrees in taming the beast. McNally, a veteran oil market and policy expert, explains the consequences of the ebbing of OPEC's power, debunking myths and offering recommendations-including mistakes to avoid-as we confront the unwelcome return of boom and bust oil prices.

Modern Navajo tribal government originated in 1923 solely to approve oil leases. From that beginning, the responsibilities and functions of tribal government expanded, fostering economic and political changes that brought the Dine people into closer contact with their Anglo neighbors. As tribal government undertook more projects, the revenue from oil and natural gas leases became key parts of the Navajo Nation's finances. This book is an ethnohistory of the changes wrought by oil. The economic development spurred by oil leases is a cautionary tale in the transition from a subsistence to a capitalist economy. The federal stock reduction program imposed in the 1930s and 1940s devastated the Navajo agricultural economy and altered family structure. Women had owned and cared for the sheep and goat herds which were now reduced in number by hundreds of thousands. Oil did offer some wage work, but only for men who dug trenches, laid pipe, or drove trucks. Following the end of World War II as the millions of dollars generated annually from oil and gas leases became available to the impoverished Navajo Nation, inter-clan squabbles erupted over uses for the money. Navajo was set against Navajo in disputes over lifeways and identity of the Dine people. This book is also an assessment of the price the land and culture of the Navajo ultimately paid for oil. Sadly, greater involvement in Anglo society meant less reverence for the land and sacred sites of the Dine.