Building For Oil

"Building for Oil is a historical account of the development of the oil town of Daqing in northeastern China during the formative years of the People’s Republic, describing Daqing’s rise and fall as a national model city. Daqing oil field was the most profitable state-owned enterprise and the single largest source of state revenue for almost three decades, from the 1950s through the early 1980s. The book traces the roots and maturation of the Chinese socialist state and its early industrialization and modernization policies during a time of unprecedented economic growth.The metamorphosis of Daqing’s physical landscape in many ways exemplified the major challenges and changes taking place in Chinese state and society. Through detailed, often personal descriptions of the process of planning and building Daqing, the book illuminates the politics between party leaders and elite ministerial cadres and examines the diverse interests, conflicts, tensions, functions, and dysfunctions of state institutions and individuals. Building for Oil records the rise of the “Petroleum Group” in the central government while simultaneously revealing the everyday stories and struggles of the working men and women who inhabited China’s industrializing landscape—their beliefs, frustrations, and pursuit of a decent life."

Volume 2 of the Getenergy Guides series explores the challenges of developing a technically competent workforce for the oil and gas sector globally. The cases in this Volume explore practical examples of the efforts of oil and gas companies, contractors, educational institutions and governments to develop competent, vocationally-trained employees for the industry. Education and training are increasingly viewed as part of the core business of oil and gas companies operating in today’s high cost/high risk environment. This book will highlight the approaches which work and offer a framework against which future initiatives can be measured. This second book in the Getenergy Guides series explores nine cases studies from around the world and offers commentary on each case drawn from Getenergy’s wealth of experience in uniting education and training providers and the upstream oil and gas industry on a global basis. Edited by Getenergy’s Executive Team which – for more than a decade – has specialised in mapping and connecting the world of education and training with the upstream oil and gas industry through global events and workshops Detailed research into the key facts surrounding each case with analysis to enable readers to quickly and effectively extract lessons that can be applied to the challenge of building a technically competent workforce Highlights the aspects of good practice that can be utilised by universities, colleges and training providers in meeting the workforce and skills development needs of the oil and gas industry Includes full colour images and partnership diagrams’ to underscore key concepts Offers specific commentary on the replicability, sustainability and impact of the approaches outlined

Describes the construction and operation of an oil rig and the search for and discovery of petroleum.

The story of oil is one of hubris, fortune, betrayal, and destruction. It is the story of a resource that has been undeniably central to the creation of our modern culture, and ever-present during the darkest exploits of empire the world over. For the past 150 years, oil has become the most essential ingredient for economic, military, and political power. And it has brought us to our present moment in which political leaders and the fossil-fuel industry consider extraordinary, and extraordinarily dangerous, policy on a world stage marked by shifting power bases. Upending the conventional wisdom by crafting a “people’s history,” award-winning journalist Matthieu Auzanneau deftly traces how oil became a national and then global addiction, outlines the enormous consequences of that addiction, sheds new light on major historical and contemporary figures, and raises new questions about stories we thought we knew well: What really sparked the oil crises in the 1970s, the shift away from the gold standard at Bretton Woods, or even the financial crash of 2008? How has oil shaped the events that have defined our times: two world wars, the Cold War, the Great Depression, ongoing wars in the Middle East, the advent of neoliberalism, and the Great Recession, among them? With brutal clarity, Oil, Power, and War exposes the heavy hand oil has had in all of our lives—and illustrates how much heavier that hand could get during the increasingly desperate race to control the last of the world’s easily and cheaply extractable reserves.