Black Gold: The Modern History of Oil (630 hits)
Category: GeneralRating: 0.36 on 12 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Steven Durel (View user info) at 2006-04-01 12:34:10 EST
Last year's oil pandemic was ridiculous, plain and simple. The first day that people woke and saw gas selling for $3.50 per gallon, most of them thought it a joke. Wretchedly, nobody was laughing when September rolled around, bringing a gargantuan super-storm that sank a major American metropolis and left the door open for price gouging. Soon even Bill O'Reilly was calling the oil executives all thieving, child-molesting scoundrels. Heading back into summertime, one cannot help but harbor at least some trepidation about the price of petrol, what with more hurricanes and Mid-Eastern wars lingering on the horizon.
It is given that overzealous price hikes during 2005 tremendously angered many. Consequently, there has been a national surge of concerned debate regarding energy supplies, prompting even President Bush to mention alternative power sources in his most recent State of the Union address. Even so, according to a recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, 71% of Americans do not think Bush is "doing enough" to handle the energy issue (Citation1). People are flustered and bewildered. After all, why are prices and profits going up simultaneously? Who exactly are the friendly gasmen offering us our oomph, the plastic clowns selling geographic liberation by the barrelful?
ExxonMobile is the king of the oilfield, the second greatest company on the planet according to 2005 edition of Fortune 500 (2). After the US government broke up the Standard Oil monopoly in 1911, the emancipated Standard Oil of New Jersey began expanding outside state lines under the name Esso—wordplay on "S.O." Acquiring Enco and Humble (3), Jersey Standard consolidated itself as Exxon in 1972 (4). Similarly, the Mobile Corporation originated as Socony, the Standard Oil Company of New York (5). In effect, the 1999 merger of the two behemoths was only a reunification of John D. Rockefeller's most powerful assets—Exxon also comprises Standard Oil of Louisiana and Standard Oil of Brazil.
To its credit, ExxonMobile certainly knows how to run a modern business. Despite supply problems and Katrina's devastation, ExxonMobile received $36 billion in profits during 2005—50% higher than the previous year (6). Overlooking those figures and the fact that Standard's reunion stands in direct defiance to a landmark divestiture, Uncle Sam presently has no problem with ExxonMobil, even granting them and other oil titans billions of dollars in tax breaks and incentives. Authority has historically acted in concordance with the energy industry's agenda, though, not against it. After all, money and power are more friends than adversaries, allies who often team up to kick the crap out of individuals and communities alike.
British Petroleum, for instance, started out as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1909 after Iranians let some visiting Brits rummage around for oil and they ended up finding quite a bit (7). In the 1950's, however, Iran's Parliament decided that the nation was tired of European imperialism and started nationalizing oilfields. Britain, who had been pushed out of Afghanistan only decades earlier, was not about to lose any more assets in the region. Citing concern about Soviet infiltration, the CIA and MI6 deposed Iranian Prime Minister Dr. Mohammed Mossadeq in 1953, handing his office to a military general (8). The Anglos were once again sucking Iran dry of natural resources the following year, though the company changed its name to British Petroleum in order to rid itself of any stigma caused by recent bad press.
As most know, Iran did eventually push out the West, exiling British Petroleum with it the 1979 Islamic revolution. Fortunately for BP stockholders, the World Bank granted a consolatory loan and new lifeblood was pumped from Europe's North Sea and a pristine Alaskan coastline. By overtaking Sohio (Standard Oil of Ohio), Arco, Castrol and Amoco (the Standard Oil companies of Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois and Kansas (9)), BP has made itself one of the biggest conglomerates on the planet.
As opposed to most corporations—including Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron—Citgo's story is comparatively that of whore-turned-saint. Citgo gets its name from the Cities Service Company, which was bought out by Occidental Petroleum in 1982, by the Southland Corporation in 1983 and finally to the Petroleum Ministry of Venezuela. Though that nation's current president, Hugo Chávez, is often charged with being a radical populist sociopath who may be the Antichrist, Citgo has done a lot of honest good under his administration. Here in the northeast, many New England families were granted discounted heating oil from Citgo to keep warm this past winter (10) and, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, rather than raising prices Citgo pledged $1 million for immediate relief (11). Also, as Venezuelan industries are pursuing an innovative model of worker co-management, laborers are actually being set free from the State's authority and not shackled to it (12). On seemingly every level, Citgo is showing that oil can be used positively.
Whatever the flashy logo and whichever suits are in charge, a business' value must be measured by its commitment to both freedom and democracy. Though some oil barrens still perpetuate wars and bolster dictatorial regimes—like Hess in Libya—there are others that abide by at least moderate codes of conduct—for instance, Sunoco (13)—effectively giving us hope for the future. Perhaps our generation will indeed be the first to realize that revenue and stock-value are little more than numerical illusions, that money is a poor substitute for autonomy, and that one of the planet's most self-consuming ailments is avarice.
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Citations:
1) http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/16/oil.poll/index.html
2) http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500
3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esso
4) http://www2.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/About/History/Corp_A_H_NewNamesChall.asp
5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socony
6) http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060309/bs_nm/energy_exxon_capex_dc_4;_ylt=A86.I2svsxtEcmEAJwCAsnsA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BP
8) http://cryptome.org/cia-iran-lob.htm
9) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil_Trust
10) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4813998.stm
11) http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1743
12) http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9067
13) http://www.sunocoinc.com/aboutsunoco/purposesf.htm
User Reviews
Submitted by Adamdidit2u (user info) at 2006-04-14 15:34:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
this has no point, go play on wikipedia
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2006-04-03 08:57:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by nightshade (user info) at 2006-04-02 00:49:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Wildman (user info) at 2006-04-02 00:03:55 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Why? What purpose does this serve? Are these your Cliff-Notes for your next exam?
Nevermind, I DON'T CARE!!!
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2006-04-01 23:29:17 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Small Cock: The Modern History of Durel
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-04-01 22:36:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Everything you ever wanted to know about bart
User id: 1
Registered on or around: 1999-11-30 02:06:04
# Messages posted: 125
# Reviews written: 5416
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ONE MILLION HITS
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-04-01 21:46:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
You and ETS...do you think anyone really cares?
Submitted by shitfuck (user info) at 2006-04-01 20:11:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Perfect.
Submitted by maiorano84 (user info) at 2006-04-01 15:51:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I thought it was another crazy Steelers fan.
Submitted by Yams (user info) at 2006-04-01 15:18:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Shit, at first when I saw this I thought it was about the revival of the slave trade. DAMN.
Submitted by DCWoody (user info) at 2006-04-01 14:33:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
bloody hell, have a +1 for effort...but is anybody really caring?
Submitted by Ingsoc (user info) at 2006-04-01 13:01:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Gas broke a dollar a litre yesterday. Jesus!