The Epic Quest For Oil, Money, And Power

In our society, oil is one of the core requirements. Whether it is to drive from a point A to a point B or to fly between distant countries, oil always had a fundamental impact on our civilization. Its impact is felt, on a daily basis and under many aspects. Not a day goes by without hearing about the Brent's changing undulation, on the markets in New York or London. Some have thought that the desire to gain control of Iran's oil resources was the core of the CIA's intervention in that country, in the 1950s. In recent years, it was considered, by left-wing groups, that the war in Iraq was based upon an attempt of foreign control over the Iraqi petroleum resources. Even though both events have an unquestioned place

foreign policy in the Middle East and the oceans of crude oil that lie beneath the region's soil. Klare traces oil's impact on international affairs since World War II, revealing its influence on the Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, and Carter doctrines. He shows how America's own wells are drying up as our demand increases; by 2010, the United States will need to import sixty percent of its oil. Since most of this supply will have to come from violently anti-American zones, our dependency is bound to lead to recurrent military involvement. "Ultimately, the cost of oil will be measured in blood: the blood of American soldiers who die in combat, the blood of the many other casualties of oil-related violence, including the victims of terrorism."

Oil has often been referred to as any economy’s lifeblood. Although this is an overemphasis, oil has been the key, nonhuman resource of the economy throughout the largest part of the 20th century. In the book “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, And Power” by Daniel Yergin, the author illustrates the political, societal, economic, and geo-strategic importance of this product.

Senator Everett Dirksen once noted “The oilcan is mightier than the sword”. In today’s world, it is easy to see why oil can be considered the most important resource to hold. Without oil, many of the common day occurrences we take for granted would be impossible. Oil is used for almost everything; from the fuel used to drive our vehicles, to the plastics used in every facet of life, and providing the heat needed to live through the winter. In fact, the United States depends so much on oil that as a nation it uses over 20 million barrels a day. Importing oil increases the total costs because of the need to transport it from around the world. It is estimated

The consumption of the oil cause changes in the supply and demand. The United States produces 11 million barrels of oil every day. We are one of the biggest countries to have a big influence on the production and prices of the oil. The basic supply and demand theory explains that the if a product is produced more, the cheaper it should sell. If a country were to double the output of oil day, prices would fall and the Production is high, but the distribution of oil isn’t keeping up with the market. The United States builds an average of one oil refinery per 10 years. This is a net loss due to the fact construction has slowed down since 1970s. Since 1970s, the United States has 8 less oil refineries today. The reason why we are not oversupplied with cheap oil is because of the other countries’ higher net margin and the only operate at 62% of their capacity. Excess capacity is only there to meet future demand. With demand moving accordingly, oil prices will continue to be set mostly by the market — despite external players’ best efforts. (McFarlane)

The “U.S. became the world’s top producer of petroleum and natural gas” in 2013 (Energy Infrastructure). “Capital spending in the infrastructure that moves and transforms oil and gas into everyday products … has increased by 60 percent between 2010 and 2013” (Energy Infrastructure). The rise to become the top producer has led to the decrease in “U.S. oil import dependence” and the “rise of U.S. product exports” (U.S. Oil Import Dependence). The increased exportation of oil and gas by the U.S. has allowed both of these products to become large moneymakers for the United States. Although we will probably never “completely eliminate our need” for oil, we can reduce our petroleum consumption and the damage we inflict on the environment (Reduce Oil Dependence Costs). By decreasing the “dependence on oil” in new vehicles, there has been a

Several oil-countries have been facing economic and political turbulence as a result of the crash in oil prices, and there is disagreement among OPEC as how to handle the situation. (Krauss) While this is happening, America’s oil production continues to rise, as it inches closer to becoming an energy superpower in production and consumption; and countries that depend on their oil exports face recession.

Two-thirds of the world’s remaining oil reserves are in the Middle East which will make international policy imperative in the future (Campbell 2007). It is

In addition to the US peak oil situation, the US Oil Drilling and Gas Extraction Industry faces heavy foreign market competition. In 2011, the US ranked 3rd in oil production, behind Saudi Arabia and Russia (Energy, 2012). Saudi Arabia’s OPEC governor expects Saudi output to rise steadily beyond 2030 with a 1.5 million barrel per day spare production capacity then (Energy, 2012). Russia holds the world’s largest

The Prize, by Daniel Yergin, is an important book for me because it has to do with some of the biggest issues in the modern world: Oil, Money, and Power. This book was rated 4.37 out of 5 Based on 3,753 reviews on Goodreads. “Energy consultant Yergin limns oil 's central role in most of the wars and many international crises of the 20th century. A timely, information-packed, authoritative history of the petroleum industry, tracing its ramifications, national and geopolitical, to the present day.” - Publisher’s weekly.

Robert Samuelson's article, "Let's export oil," is a brilliant opinion on the macroeconomic advantages of exporting oil in the international markets and the need to lift the ban on the export of crude oil. The application of new drilling techniques has resulted in an exponential increase in the production of crude oil. This increased production has given us the opportunity to reevaluate our position on the ban on the export of crude oil, because with this new capability comes a responsibility of stabilizing the global oil market as a responsible member of the global community, not to mention our responsibility towards the American people by curbing our import dependence. The author details how this ban is handing an unfair advantage to hostile countries such as Russia and Iran, while severely limiting the options to oil producers in the States, who would eventually reduce, if not stop, new exploration because the ban makes it a less lucrative project which is not worthy of investing time and resources on it. While trying to be fair and balanced, he highlights the risks involved in transporting oil by trains and inadequate pipelines, while explicitly mentioning the environmental worries about fracking. He clearly points out the microeconomic implications by mentioning that the quadrupling of oil prices in the early 1970s led to the ban on oil exports. He understands that persuading the public may be difficult, and that is where political leadership needs to bridge this divide by explaining to the public in the most efficient way possible that despite the risks involved, the gains outweigh the costs.

During the 1920’s, as cars became more widespread, society became evermore dependent on the properties of oil. Gas, a by-product of oil, was in high demand, but the supply was quickly being depleted. As once prosperous wells were reaching their limits, panic ensued upon the public Oil in America was becoming scarce and the search for outside sources was on. In the third installment of the Prize titled “Black Giant”, we follow America in its search for foreign oil.

The Importance of Oil in U.S. Foreign Policy During the oil and energy crisis of the mid-1970s Americans became painfully aware of the consequences of the United States dependence on foreign sources of oil. Unfortunately, research and exploration for alternative sources of oil in North America has not been pursued vigorously enough to cease such foreign dependence. As a result, in the mid-1990s Americans find themselves in the same precarious position as they were during the 1970s. The Persian-Gulf War in 1991 was all the proof needed to convince the United States of how strongly oil still influences our foreign policy and international relations in general. Oil and U.S. Foreign Policy: Historical Issues The United

The oil-rich Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, located on the northern coast of South America, was for many decades considered among the wealthiest nations in the entire continent. While having the largest proven oil reserves in the world has often proved a tremendous boon for Venezuela, the very black gold that has been the cause of its success has also proven to repeatedly be its kryptonite. Over half of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product stems from petroleum exports – which equates to approximately 95% of total exports. It is really not too hard to imagine what drastic consequences shifts in global oil prices could have on the economy.

Oil has repeatedly been referred to as any economy’s lifeblood. Whereas this is an overemphasis, oil has been the utmost key, nonhuman resource of economy throughout the largest part of the 20th century. In the book “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, And Power” by Daniel Yergin, the author illustrates the political, societal, economic, and geo-strategic prominence of this product. The book was published by Simon and Schuster in 2011 in New York, and contains 928 pages, as its ISBN is 1439134839. This research paper aims to provide a book review on Daniel Yergin’s “The Prize.”