Oil: Money, Politics, and Power in the 21st Century - Hardcover

Bower, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0446547980 ISBN 13: 9780446547987

Publisher: Grand Central Pub, 2010

Synopsis

With unparalleled insight into BP and its safety record leading up to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Tom Bower gives us a groundbreaking, in-depth, and authoritative twenty-year history of the hunt and speculation for our most vital natural resource.


OIL

Money, Politics, and Power in the 21st Century

Twenty years ago oil cost about $7 a barrel. In 2008 the price soared to $148 and then fell to below $40. In the midst of this extraordinary volatility, the major oil conglomerates still spent over a trillion dollars in an increasingly frantic search for more.

The story of oil is a story of high stakes and extreme risk. It is the story of 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's prices. It is the story of corporate chieftains in Dallas and London, traders in New York, oil-oligarchs in Moscow, and globe-trotting politicians-all maneuvering for power.

With the world as his canvas, acclaimed investigative reporter Tom Bower gathers unprecedented firsthand information from hundreds of sources to give readers the definitive, untold modern history of oil . . . the ultimate story of arrogance, intrigue, and greed.

About this title

Review:

'A gripping and convincing account of the turbulent story of the global oil industry over the past decade...scorchingly topical..."The Squeeze" provides the fascinating story behind the headlines...a first-rate account of where the oil industry is now and some useful pointers as to where it is going' Financial Times

'Reveals brilliantly the drama behind the scenes...Bower has produced a work which will be popular and which gets the broad brushstrokes right' Spectator

'Gripping...However fast-paced, Bower cleverly keeps the action in focus ...(he) builds up a brilliant picture...(and) achieves an impressively seamless continuity. He skilfully depicts accountants squeezing costs, oil majors squeezing rivals, governments squeezing the industry, directors squeezing peers from the boardroom and traders squeezing each other in the market place' TLS

'A shattering critique which will leave...readers angry' Independent

'A roller-coaster account of the past 30 years of the oil industry...he has a real sense of the drama of deal-making and deal-breaking...Bower is particularly entertaining on the vast Russian oil industry' Daily Telegraph

From the Publisher:

`The Squeeze' is an invaluable account of the modern oil industry and vital to understanding the awful truth about BP's current disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. With unprecedented access to their engineers and executives in London and Houston, Tom Bower tells the inside story of the BP's history of negligence.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grand Central Pub
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0446547980
• ISBN 13: 9780446547987
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 490