Oil is the lifeblood of modern civilization, and the industry that supplies it has been the subject of intense interest and scrutiny, as well as countless books. And yet, almost no attention has been paid to little-known characters vital to the industry-secretive fixers and oil traders, lobbyists and PR agents, gangsters and dictators-allied with competing governments and multinational corporations. Virtually every stage in oil's production process, from discovery to consumption, is greased by secret connections, corruption, and violence, even if little of that is visible to the public. The energy industry, to cite just one measure, violates the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act more often than any other economic sector, even weapons. This book sets out to tell the story of this largely hidden world. Based on trips to New York, Houston, New Orleans, Paris, Geneva, and Phnom Penh, among other far-flung locales, The Secret World of Oil includes up-close portraits of Louisiana oilmen and their political handlers; an urbane, captivating London fixer; and an oil dictator's playboy son who had to choose among more than three dozen luxury vehicles before heading out to party in Los Angeles. Supported by funding from the prestigious Open Society Foundations, this is both an entertaining global travelogue and a major work of investigative reporting.

They were a band of outsiders unable to get jobs with New York's gilded financial establishment. They would go on to build the world's multitrillion-dollar oil market, reaping unimaginable riches while bringing the economy to its knees. Meet the self-anointed kings of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the place where global oil prices are set to this day. In some ways, they are everything you would expect them to be: a secretive, members-only club of men and women who live lavish lifestyles; cavort with politicians, strippers, and celebrities; and blissfully jack up oil prices while profiting off the misery of the working class. In other ways, they are nothing you can imagine: many come from working-class families themselves. The progeny of Jewish, Irish, and Italian immigrants who escaped war-torn Europe, they take pride in flagrantly spurning Wall Street. Under the thumb of an all-powerful international oil cartel, the energy market had long eluded the grasp of America's hungry capitalists. Neither the oil royalty of Houston nor the titans of Wall Street had ever succeeded in fully wresting away control. But facing extinction, the rough-and - tumble traders of this tribe-led by the reluctant son of a produce merchant - went after Big Oil and won, creating the world's first free oil market and minting billions across decades of treachery and glory. Their stunning journey from poverty to prosperity belies the brutal and violent history that is their legacy. This is the real-life story both Washington and Wall Street don't want you to read.

People in Africa argue that natural resources are a blessing; it is the way these are plundered and used that can turn them into a curse. The continent has plenty of experience of such plunder. Rich in resources, Africa is a net supplier of energy and raw materials to the North. The climate crisis confronting the world today is rooted mainly in the wealthy economies' abuse of fossil fuels, indigenous forests and global commercial agriculture. But, without agreement about how to tackle this reality, the question often becomes what can be done about Africa. Or, sometimes, for Africa. This book looks at what has been done to Africa and how Africans should respond for the good of all. Bassey examines the oil industry in Africa, probes the roots of global warming, warns of its insidious impacts and explores false 'solutions'. Crucially, his intelligent and wide-ranging approach demonstrates that the issues around natural resource exploitation, corporate profiteering and climate change must be considered together if we are to save ourselves. What can Africa do? And can the rest of the world act in solidarity? If not, will we continue on the path laid out by elites that brings us ever closer to the brink? Many live in denial even as ecological and social disasters increase, but this is not inevitable and Bassey suggests how Africa can overcome the crises of environment and global warming.

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.

The recent escalation in the violent conflict in the Niger Delta has brought the region to the forefront of international energy and security concerns. This book analyses the causes, dynamics and politics underpinning oil-related violence in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It focuses on the drivers of the conflict, as well as the ways the crises spawned by the political economy of oil and contradictions within Nigeria's ethnic politics have contributed to the morphing of initially poorly coordinated, largely non-violent protests into a pan-Delta insurgency. Approaching the issue from a number of perspectives, the book offers the most up-to-date and comprehensive analysis available of the varied dimensions of the conflict. Combining empirically-based and analytic chapters, it attempts to explain the causes of the escalation in violence, the various actors, levels and dynamics involved, and the policy challenges faced with regard to conflict management/resolution and the options for peace. It also examines the role of oil as a commodity of global strategic significance, addressing the relationship between oil, energy security and development in the Niger Delta.

The recent escalation in the violent conflict in the Niger Delta has brought the region to the forefront of international energy and security concerns. This book analyses the causes, dynamics and politics underpinning oil-related violence in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It focuses on the drivers of the conflict, as well as the ways the crises spawned by the political economy of oil and contradictions within Nigeria's ethnic politics have contributed to the morphing of initially poorly coordinated, largely non-violent protests into a pan-Delta insurgency. Approaching the issue from a number of perspectives, the book offers the most up-to-date and comprehensive analysis available of the varied dimensions of the conflict. Combining empirically-based and analytic chapters, it attempts to explain the causes of the escalation in violence, the various actors, levels and dynamics involved, and the policy challenges faced with regard to conflict management/resolution and the options for peace. It also examines the role of oil as a commodity of global strategic significance, addressing the relationship between oil, energy security and development in the Niger Delta.

Out of sight, out of mind. That's the general public's reaction to the crucial movement of oil around the world's oceans. Yet this vital supply chain that allows the world to function is constantly under enormous, largely unreported pressure. The uninterrupted flow of oil is essential to globalization and increasingly so as manufacturing and markets move Eastwards to Asia. However, it is threatened by conflicts between nation states, pirates and global warming. All too often the movement of oil by ocean is something taken for granted by the majority of the world yet it is fraught with difficulty, and could haemorrhage global growth if issues covered in this book are not resolved or allowed to escalate. From reporting onboard giant tankers to looking at the geopolitical shift in oil consumption, "Oil on Water" is holistic, all encompassing and engrossing look at the way oil is moved and consumed mixing reportage, examples and hard-hitting facts.

The global market for oil and gas resources is rapidly changing. Three major trends --the rise of new consumers, the increasing influence of state players, and concerns about climate change --are combining to challenge existing regulatory structures, many of which have been in place for a half-century. "Global Energy Governance" analyzes the energy market from an institutionalist perspective and offers practical policy recommendations to deal with these new challenges.

Much of the existing discourse on energy governance deals with hard security issues but neglects the challenges to global governance. "Global Energy Governance" fills this gap with perspectives on how regulatory institutions can ensure reliable sources of energy, evaluate financial risk, and provide emergency response mechanisms to deal with interruptions in supply.

The authors bring together decisionmakers from industry, government, and civil society in order to address two central questions:

-What are the current practices of existing institutions governing global oil and gas on financial markets?

-How do these institutions need to adapt in order to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century?

The resulting governance-oriented analysis of the three interlocking trends also provides the basis for policy recommendations to improve global regulation.

Contributors include Thorsten Benner, Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin; William Blyth, Chatham House, Royal Institute for International Affairs, London; Albert Bressand, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University; Dick de Jong, Clingendael International Energy Programme; Ralf Dickel, Energy Charter Secretariat; Andreas Goldthau, Central European University, Budapest, and Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin; Enno Harks, Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin; Wade Hoxtell, Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin; Hillard Huntington, Energy Modeling Forum, Stanford University; Christine Jojarth, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, Stanford University; Frederic Kalinke, Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford University; Wilfrid L. Kohl, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; Jamie Manzer, Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin; Amy Myers Jaffe, James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University; Yulia Selivanova, Energy Charter Secretariat; Tom Smeenk, Clingendael International Energy Programme; Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford University; Ronald Soligo, Rice University; Joseph A. Stanislaw, Deloitte LLP and The JAStanislaw Group, LLC; Coby van der Linde, Clingendael International Energy Programme; Jan Martin Witte, Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin; Simonetta Zarrilli, Division on International Trade and Commodities, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

Antonia Juhasz, a leading activist and expert on corporations and globalization, investigates the true state of the U.S. oil industry, uncovering its virtually unparalleled influence over our elected officials, its lack of regulatory oversight, and the highest profit rates in corporate history. She offers an immediate call to action - a formula for reining in the industry, cutting down its governmental powers, environmental destruction, and movement toward war while reducing global dependence on oil - and proposes a bold yet viable answer: break up the nation's leading oil companies. Drawing on her own detailed historical research, Juhasz explores the parallels between today's companies and Standard Oil, the most powerful corporation of the early 20th century, whose stranglehold on the economy and government was broken only by the vision and persistence of activists and like-minded politicians.

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.

Oil has played a major role in Venezuela's economy since the first gusher was discovered along Lake Maracaibo in 1922. As Miguel Tinker Salas demonstrates, oil has also transformed the country's social, cultural, and political landscapes. In "The Enduring Legacy," Tinker Salas traces the history of the oil industry's rise in Venezuela from the beginning of the twentieth century, paying particular attention to the experiences and perceptions of industry employees, both foreign and Venezuelan. He reveals how class ambitions and corporate interests combined to reshape many Venezuelans' ideas of citizenship. Middle-class Venezuelans embraced the oil industry from the start, anticipating that it would transform the country by introducing modern technology, sparking economic development, and breaking the landed elites' stranglehold. Eventually Venezuelan employees of the industry found that their benefits, including relatively high salaries, fueled loyalty to the oil companies. That loyalty sometimes trumped allegiance to the nation-state.

North American and British petroleum companies, seeking to maintain their stakes in Venezuela, promoted the idea that their interests were synonymous with national development. They set up oil camps--residential communities to house their workers--that brought Venezuelan employees together with workers from the United States and Britain, and eventually with Chinese, West Indian, and Mexican migrants as well. Through the camps, the companies offered not just housing but also schooling, leisure activities, and acculturation into a structured, corporate way of life. Tinker Salas contends that these practices shaped the heart and soul of generations of Venezuelans whom the industry provided with access to a middle-class lifestyle. His interest in how oil suffused the consciousness of Venezuela is personal: Tinker Salas was born and raised in one of its oil camps.

Refine your path to career success

Get started in a career that has a promising future and is financially rewarding. "Opportunities in Petroleum Careers" provides you with a complete overview of the job possibilities, salary figures, and experience required to enter the petroleum industry.

This career-boosting book will help you: Determine the specialty that's right for you, from scientific research to oil refining to petroleum sales Acquire in-depth knowledge of the petroleum industry Find out what kind of salary you can expect Understand the daily routine of your chosen field Focus your job search using industry resources

ENJOY A GREAT CAREER AS A:
Drilling/production engineer - Environmental scientist - Chemical plant operator * Process engineer * Independent seller

Alberta's oil sands represent a vast and untapped oil reserve that could reasonably supply all of Canada's energy needs for the next 475 years. With an estimated 300 billion barrels of recoverable oil at stake, the quest to develop this natural resource has been undertaken by many powerful actors, both nationally and internationally. Using research that integrates the economic, political, scientific, and business factors that have been influential in discovering and developing the sands, this book provides a comprehensive history of the oil sands project and a window on the nature of the complex relationships between industry, government, and transnational players. This book is the first comprehensive volume to examine the origins and development of the oil sands industry over the last century.

In 2006, world oil consumption will exceed one. thousand barrels per second. The news marks an. important change that will have a far-reaching. impact on world economies, investments, and business. profitability..

In "A Thousand Barrels a Second," Chief Energy. Economist of ARC Financial Peter Tertzakian. delivers a provocative look at the future of oil and. offers fresh insight into what it will take. to rebalance our energy needs and seize new. opportunities..

Tertzakian provides a unique analysis of shifts in. energy trends, describing how past critical junctures. -what he calls energy break points-developed, . evolved, and shaped nations; changed consumer. behavior; and launched or ruined businesses.. With the world already consuming 85 million. barrels of oil a day, Tertzakian answers the top. questions that business leaders, policy makers, . investors, and concerned citizens are asking him. as we approach the coming break point: . . Are today's high oil and gas prices. part of a routine business cycle, or are. there more profound forces at play?. Have we entered a new multi-polar. world where energy is the primary. source of geopolitical tension?. Are hybrid vehicles our only solution. against high gasoline prices?. Is China's growing thirst for energy. sustainable?. What sort of global landscape will. emerge from the turmoil?. Which government policies work and. which do not?. Will nuclear power and coal save the. day-again?. .

Tertzakian also offers a realistic, informed look. into the volatile future of our energy supply chains. and how our consumption patterns may evolve, . revealing how governments, businesses, and even. individuals can meet the coming challengeswith. better solutions and innovations..

Serving as a sobering yet hopeful wake-up call, . this book shows how the lessons of history will. help us find our way toward a better, more. secure energy future.. .

Public and private institutions in the United States have long been home to a variety of art works, antiquities, and ethnological materials. For years, these collections have been seen as important archives that allow present and future generations to enjoy, appreciate, and value the art of all cultures. In the past decade, however, questions have been raised as to exactly what constitutes legal and ethical ownership of art and other cultural property. Some observers believe that art and ethnological materials should remain in source countries, and have lobbied for an end to art trading. Recent changes to U.S. law may curtail both private and public collecting. Contributors to "Who Owns the Past?" include legal scholars, museum professionals, anthropologists, archaeologists, and collectors. In clear, nontechnical language, they provide a comprehensive overview of the development of cultural property law and practices, as well as recent case law affecting the ability of museums and private collectors to own art from other countries. Topics covered include rights to property, ethical ownership, the public responsibilities of museums, threats to art from war and development, and international cooperation to preserve collections in the developing world. Engaging all perspectives on this debate, "Who Owns the Past?" challenges all who care about the arts to work together toward policies that consider traditional American interests in securing cultural resources, and respect international concerns over loss of heritage.

To help prevent a repetition of the economic dislocation caused by the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo, Congress authorised the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA, P.L. 94-163). Physically, the SPR comprises five underground storage facilities, hollowed out from naturally occurring salt domes, located in Texas and Louisiana. Oil stored at one of the sites, Weeks Island, was transferred after problems with the structural integrity of the cavern were discovered in the mid-1990s. Hurricane Katrina made landfall early in the morning of August 29, 2005 inflicting severe damage and shutting down oil and gas production and refining activities in the Gulf of Mexico. Damage assessments continue. By September 2, three requests for loans totalling 8.5 million barrels had been approved; a few others are pending. The Administration also announced it was making 30 million barrels available. However, as a policy tool to respond to the crisis, the SPR has limitations because a barrel of crude contributes to product supply only if there is refining capacity to turn the crude into gasoline or diesel fuel. Consequently, recovery from the hurricane's effects will depend upon resumption of production and refining operations in the Gulf, and the ability to transport petroleum products. On August 8, 2005, the President signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (H.R. 6). The bill as enacted permanently authorises the SPR and requires, "as expeditiously as practicable," expansion of the SPR to its authorised maximum of 1 billion barrels. The Secretary is required to develop procedures for achieving the fill objective without "incurring excessive cost," or placing upward pressure on prices. Any fill policy is also to take into consideration minimising income foregone to the Treasury by filling the SPR with additional royalty-in-kind (RIK) oil.

Corporate Social Responsibility Failures in the Oil Industry directly challenges the oil industry's claims of corporate good citizenship, now widely advanced as part of a global public relations initiative. The volume spans the industry's reach, from the troubled waters of the UK offshore Continental Shelf, with its horrendous legacy of the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster, to the inhospitable shores of Newfoundland with its own tragic legacy of lost lives; to the new frontier of oil corporate colonialism in the former Soviet Union and the icy plains of Alaska. The central theme of violations of basic labour rights and of health and environmental protection standards will make uncomfortable reading in the boardroom. It is equally essential reading for those who seek to improve the position of workers and industries within the oil industry's global reach.

This volume reports the results of discussions with representatives of refining firms, technologies and services providers, research institutions and other organizations on current and future trends in the US refining industry.

On February 22, 1895, a British Naval Force under the command of Admiral Sir Frederick Bedford laid siege to Brass, the chief city of the Ijo people of Nembe in Nigeria's Niger Delta. After severe fighting, the city was razed to the ground. More than 2000 people, mostly women and children perished in that attack - launched at the behest of a British company in the name of Queen Victoria. writer, political activist and leader of the Niger Delta's Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. Again, the people of Nembe were locked in a grim life-and-death struggle to safeguard their livelihood from two forces: a series of corrupt and repressive Nigerian governments and another British company, the giant multinational Royal Dutch Shell. the Nigerian military, demonstrating (in contrast to Shell's public profile) how irresponsible practices have degraded agricultural land and left a people destitute. Compelling and angry, it draws attention to a grave injustice. The plunder of the Niger Delta has turned full circle as crude oil has taken the place of palm oil, but the dramatis personae remain the same: a powerful multinational company bent on extracting the last drop of blood from the richly endowed Niger Delta and a courageous people determined to resist.

Comparative analyses of social actors and policy outcomes in Bahia and Texas show the similarities and differences in the actors and the policies adopted in each case. As a result of historical and structural developments in Bahia and Texas, Cetrel operates under pollution-control standards and technologies for protecting the environment and workers that are similar to those of the GCA. This convergent trend is characterized as dependent convergence between developing and developed countries. The author makes recommendations for stronger international solidarity among progressive forces in developed and developing countries to promote preventive alternatives to pollution control.

Traditional accounts of John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company, as well as more recent best-selling books on the subject, still accept without question charges of unethical and anti-competitive behaviour by the American oil industry. In this synthesis of cultural, business, gender and intellectual history, Roger and Diana Davids Olien explore how this negative image of the petroleum industry was created -and how this image in turn helped shape policy toward the industry in ways that were sometimes at odds with both the goals or reformers and the public interest. By turning a critical eye on sources that have often been accepted at face value and examining the self-interests of oil industry critics, the authors seek to produce a more balanced, complex picture of the industry. Their case study of the impact of technology offers an example of how business must be understood through its cultural context and offers an approach to understanding problems of regulation and reform.

Growing Up in the Oil Patch chronicles the adventures and achievements of some of the most colourful, ambitious people of their time: statesmen, scoundrels, visionaries and developers. Participants all in the growing oil patch

The author presents a highly readable, informative and entertaining account of the early years in the development of Canada's gas and oil industry. Based upon five years of research, interviews, and his fortuitous discovery of a rare, historically important scribbler, John Schmidt traces the paths of two enterprising American-born drillers, "Frosty" Martin and "Tiny" Phillips, whose drive and ingenuity were encouraged by British and Canadian promoters and financiers. Their entrepreneurial spirit took them initially to Leamington, Ontario, and ultimately into the heart of the oil patch in Western Canada.

The oil price collapse of 1985-6 had momentous global consequences: non-fossil energy sources quickly became uncompetitive, the previous talk of an OPEC 'imperium' was turned upside-down, the Soviet Union lost a large portion of its external revenues, and many Third World producers saw their foreign debts peak. Compared to the much-debated 1973 `oil shock', the `countershock' has not received the same degree of attention, even though its legacy has shaped the present-day energy scenario. This volume is the first to put the oil `counter-shock' of the mid-1980s into historical perspective. Featuring some of the most knowledgeable experts in the field, Counter-Shock offers a balanced approach between the global picture and local study cases. In particular, it highlights the crucial interaction between the oil counter-shock and the political `counterrevolution' against state intervention in economic management, put forward by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the same period.

This volume describes how controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) methods are used to determine the electrical conductivity and hydrocarbon content of the upper few kilometres of the Earth, on land and at sea. The authors show how the signal-to-noise ratio of the measured data may be maximised via suitable choice of acquisition and processing parameters and selection of subsequent data analysis procedures. Complete impulse responses for every electric and magnetic source and receiver configuration are derived, providing a guide to the expected response for real data. 1-D, 2-D and 3-D modelling and inversion procedures for recovery of Earth conductivity are presented, emphasising the importance of updating model parameters using complementary geophysical data and rock physics relations. Requiring no specialist prior knowledge of electromagnetic theory, and providing a step-by-step guide through the necessary mathematics, this book provides an accessible introduction for advanced students, researchers and industry practitioners in exploration geoscience and petroleum engineering.

Oil exploration requires proper understanding of the geological set-up of any area to make the process economical and effective. This involves geological, geophysical, geochemical surveys including studying the lateral variations in litho-stratigraphic units in the adjoining areas surrounding the bore-hole, done through study of Dipmeter logs. This book 'Dipmeter Surveys in Petroleum Exploration' giving all the required backup of the other allied subjects for easy and meaningful interpretations of the Dipmeter data, so that drilling of dry wells is avoided to maximum possible extent and new discoveries to be made, thereby enhancing the oil resource of a particular geographical location.