Resource Wars: Notes Week 1

April 1, 2008

History of Oil

• Made from organic matter
• Compressed and heated
• Formed into hydrocarbons
• Seeped out of the ground
• Persians and Romans used oil for weapons
• Kerosene first common use of oil in 1853 

Oil War History

• In many respects, the history of oil is the history of modern warfare
• WWI naval ships running on oil were more efficient
• Hitler's Germany did have liquified coal, but it became increasingly difficult to transport it to the front lines, so he pushed to Russia to get more, but never got there.
• Oil is the foundation of modern warfare and warfare secures supplies of oil
• On trigger of Pearl Harbor was the US oil and steel embargo of Japan
• First gulf war, when Iraqis went into Kuwait the Coalition liberated Kuwait was about oil. The Kuwaitis were pumping more oil from shared fields than the agreement and Sadaam was mad.
• Iraq war is mainly about oil

Latin American Oil Wars

• Columbian people have been fighting each other for 150 years
• Opening off Panama canal publicized their troubles
• It was difficult to go into Columbia, but it became more profitable.
• A lot of fighting today is not over illegal drugs but over oil, including the Bolivia conflict between Columbia and Venezuela
• Grand Chaco war in 1930s and 40s between Bolivia and Paraguay because they thought there was a lot of oil there, but there wasn't

Oil Misc

• Oil is in everything and has become a dominant feature of our lives although we often don't know it
• Oil people have to make money when they make it. It is expensive to develop oil and the market is fickle.
• "7 Sisters" the 7 big foreign oil companies bigger than the American companies

US Oil History

• Oil first discovered in No.Am. in Western Pennsylvania, Drakes folly, PennsOil, Rockefeller
• Film "Let There Be Blood" covers the bloodthirstiness and single-minded pursuit of the oil barons
• A lot of oil companies that were split apart earlier have now recombined: ExxonMobil, etc.
• Rockefeller moved westward in dominance of oil in the US.
• Doheny developed oil fields in CA, including Long Beach, so Rockefeller didn't make much inroads here.
• Nobel family was from Norway and was active in Bachu, Caspian area.
• 1944 US cut deal with King Saud for Saudi oil
• Jimmy Carter first president to have to deal with oil and tried to reduce dependence on foreign oil
• Went back in the 80s with Ronald Reagan to embracing oil-based economy
• US now imports more oil from Canada than any other country

Early Large Oil Field Locations

• Baku, Caspian Sea area
• Ex Soviet Republics: Kazakhstan, Romania (dry now)
• Russia
• North Sea (1960s)
• Saudi
• Iran
• Iraq
• Canada: Ontario, Alberta,
• Gulf of Mexico