Auzanneau - OIL, POWER, AND WAR: a dark history

Praise forOil, Power, and War

Beautifully written and marvelously translated, Oil, Power, and War provides a detailed history of oils impact on economic and technical advancesand, in turn, their impact on oilover the past century. Extending its narrative through the events of early 2018, it offers a profound new understanding of oils role in war and peace, growth and stagnation; and it casts new light on the foundations of national power and the challenge that lies ahead. A terrific education and an engrossing read.

D ENNIS M EADOWS , coauthor of The Limits to Growth

The definitive history of the rise and eventual fall of oil, brilliantly told. Auzanneau illuminates the history of our time driven by cheap oil and the persistent search for more at all costs. Insightful, authoritative, and essential reading. A dazzling and wise book.

D AVID O RR , author of Dangerous Years ;

Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics, Oberlin College

Matthew Auzanneaus ambitious new history of oil is a must read for anyone intrigued by the instrumental role of energy in the ebb and flow of modern civilization. This is a richly documented and beautifully written book, which tells a story that has not been fully tolduntil now. Auzanneau masterfully reveals the vast extent to which the arteries of todays politics, economics, and culture have been indelibly shaped by the riseand declineof the worlds most abundant fossil fuel. In years to come, historians will refer back to Auzanneaus work as a definitive guide to the real role of oil in some of the most pivotal events in world history.

N AFEEZ A HMED , editor of INSURGE intelligence; visiting research fellow at the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University

Auzanneaus Oil, Power, and War is a fascinating and excellent book. It sets out in detail the extraordinary story of oils discovery, production, pricing, and control, and throws light on the fears, misapprehensions, power plays, and conflicts that our addiction to this cheap and flexible form of energy has engendered. Auzanneau is particularly good at explaining the importance of oil in the sustenance of modern society, and therefore why the coming constraint to the global oil supplycaused by the current resource-limited plateau (and soon decline) in the global production of conventional oilis likely to be so difficult. Hopefully lessons learned from our past mistakes, laid out so well in this book, can help guide us through the oil challenges that lie ahead.

R. W. B ENTLEY , editor of The Oil Age ; author of Introduction to Peak Oil

Matthieu Auzanneaus book is a must for anyone who wants to understand the modern world. Our consumer society is based on cheap energy. Thus if you want to know the sources of the worlds current wealth and how our economy is likely to evolve in the future, you must study the history of world oil since 1859. This book tells that story more fully, fairly, accurately, and entertainingly than any other to date. Indeed, previous accounts of the history of oil are now effectively obsolete.

J EAN L AHERRRE , petroleum engineer; president of ASPO France

An absolutely great book, and a nearly unbelievable summary of the history of oil. But this is not just the story of oil, it is also the story of humankind during the past two centuries or so, and it shows how almost everything that happened during those centuries links back to oil. Auzanneau presents a treasure trove of information. Did you know that Mussolini was lured into his disastrous Ethiopian campaign by hopes of finding oil there? Did you know that the British won the Battle of Britain partly because the fuel of their Spitfires had a higher octane number than that of the German Messerschmitts? Did you know that the Marshall Plan to rebuild the European economies was based on the idea of replacing Europes dependence on American oil with a dependence on US-controlled Middle East oil? Theres all this and much more in Oil, Power, and War , and the story of oil and humankind is not yet concluded. In the future it will be mostly about getting rid of oil before oil gets rid of us.

U GO B ARDI , author of Extracted

POWER

AND

_______________________

A DARK HISTORY

MATTHIEU AUZANNEAU

Translated by John F. Reynolds

Foreword by Richard Heinberg

Post Carbon Institute

Corvallis, Oregon

Chelsea Green Publishing

White River Junction, Vermont

London, UK

Copyright 2015, 2016, 2018 by Matthieu Auzanneau

Originally published in French as Or Noir by Editions La Dcouverte, 2016.

English translation copyright 2018 by Chelsea Green Publishing.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

Commissioning Editor: Shaun Chamberlin

Editor: Joni Praded

Project Manager: Alexander Bullett

Copy Editor: Deborah Heimann

Proofreader: Angela Boyle

Indexer: Ruth Satterlee

Designer: Melissa Jacobson

Printed in the United States of America.

First printing October, 2018.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 118 19 20 21 22

Our Commitment to Green Publishing

Chelsea Green sees publishing as a tool for cultural change and ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book manufacturing practices with our editorial mission and to reduce the impact of our business enterprise in the environment. We print our books and catalogs on chlorine-free recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks whenever possible. This book may cost slightly more because it was printed on paper that contains recycled fiber, and we hope youll agree that its worth it. Chelsea Green is a member of the Green Press Initiative (www.greenpressinitiative.org), a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the worlds endangered forests and conserve natural resources. Oil, Power, and War was printed on paper supplied by Thomson-Shore that contains at least 30% postconsumer recycled fiber.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Auzanneau, Matthieu, author. | Reynolds, John F., translator. |Heinberg, Richard, author of foreword.

Title: Oil, power, and war : a dark history / Matthieu Auzanneau ; translated by John F. Reynolds ; foreword by Richard Heinberg.

Other titles: Or noir. English

Description: White River Junction, Vermont : Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018. | Translation of: Or noir : la grande histoire du petrole. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018012052| ISBN 9781603587433 (hc) | ISBN 9781603587440 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Petroleum industry and tradeHistory. | Petroleum industry and tradePolitical aspects.

Classification: LCC HD9560.5 .A75813 2018 | DDC 338.2/728dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018012052

Chelsea Green Publishing

85 North Main Street, Suite 120

White River Junction, VT 05001

(802) 295-6300

www.chelseagreen.com

Contents

Come and listen to my story bout a man named Jed

A poor mountaineer barely kep his famly fed

And then one day he was shootin at some food

And up through the ground come a-bubblin crude.

Oil, that is. Black gold. Texas tea.

Well the first thing you know old Jeds a millionaire.