The Oil Companies And The Arab World

For many years, vertical integration characterized the international oil industry, with the same company controlling the entire process from crude exploration and production to the retailing. This structure was radically transformed in the 1970s and this book, originally published in 1984, examines whether the dis-integration which resulted was a long-term trend or a temporary phase. It examines the attitude of the major international oil companies, discusses the policies adopted by oil producing and oil importing countries, and the limits of ‘government to government’ deals underlined. The political and strategic implications of re-integration are explored, and relations between oil exporters and importers, and between the USA, Europe and the Arab world discussed.

In the previous book "Fossil Fuels in the Arab World: Facts and Fiction", an assessment of mankind's dependence on fossil fuels was performed - particularly the position of Arab countries in this international industry. Several questions were posed then, identifying whether or not fossil fuel producing countries of the Arab world were an indispensable energy supplier and if the answer or beliefs around that question were behind Western policies towards the Arab world. In this book the questions posed 5 years ago from three perspectives: market fundamentals, understanding the fossil fuel market fundamentals and the place of the Arab world within that; political influences, corruption & cultural norms in business dealings, the developing democracy and militarisation in the Arab world and their interplay with oil and gas are addressed and finally, public relations, perceptions or concerns, where climate change and alternative energy questions are explored in detail.

Shaped by the emotional climate of the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, the controversies between the oil-producing and oil-consuming nations are of major international concern. Shwadran outlines the progressive rise in the power of the oil-producing countries and the decline in the control exercised by the concessionary foreign countries that has culminated in the almost total nationalization of the foreign oil companies. Because of the highly charged atmosphere surrounding the issues and their grave importance on world politics, the problems are, at once, highly difficult to encompass and enormously important to understand. Through a myriad of facts and figures the author sees the underlying patterns with precision. Often narrowly viewed as having only two sides —that of oil producers and consumers—the situation is reflected in this book in all its facets. Seen in this totality of conflicting needs, desires, abilities, and objectives, the Middle East oil crisis takes on the contradictory and explosive nature which has affected us all. Middle East Oil, born of the author's years of scholarship and exposure in the field, describes the problems of the past but, more important, it gives insight into how the problem will manifest itself in the future, and provides a direction for efforts toward a final resolution. Contents: Introduction / From the Six Day War to the End of 1970 / From the Teheran 1971 Agreement to the October 1973 War / The Producers Develop the Oil Industry / The Transporters / Nationalization and Participation / The Arab Oil Embargo / The Efforts of the Consuming Countries / Surpluses and Recycling / Solutions / Bibliography

This study of fundamental aspects of the oil decade examines the influence of oil production, export and revenues on domestic, regional and international relations. It highlights the expansion of higher education in the Arab world, and the increase in demand for industrial and consumer goods.