{"id":116311,"date":"2024-12-24T19:03:35","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T19:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/?p=116311"},"modified":"2024-12-24T19:03:35","modified_gmt":"2024-12-24T19:03:35","slug":"oils-not-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/oils-not-well\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil’s not well"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam Hanieh<\/strong> is a Professor of Political Economy. His latest book, Crude Capitalism<\/em>, aims to help us understand the nature of the fossil fuel economy, which he considers essential for addressing the climate crisis. The Mint<\/em> caught up with him and received a fascinating account of capitalism, colonialism, and conflict.<\/p>\n

Key points<\/h1>\n

Rise and Dominance of Western Oil Companies<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Seven major Western firms (5 American, 2 European) controlled the global oil industry for most of the 20th century<\/li>\n
  • Vertically integrated, controlling extraction, refining, shipping, marketing and sales<\/li>\n
  • Controlled key infrastructure like pipelines and refineries<\/li>\n
  • European companies leveraged colonial links, especially in the Middle East<\/li>\n
  • US government supported growth through infrastructure and military consumption<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Emergence of National Oil Companies<\/h3>\n
      \n
    • Anti-colonial movements in the Global South sought control of natural resources post-WWII<\/li>\n
    • OPEC established in 1960 to represent oil-exporting countries<\/li>\n
    • National oil companies took control of upstream reserves<\/li>\n
    • Western companies lost direct ownership but maintained downstream control<\/li>\n
    • Authoritarian regimes in oil-producing states made deals with Western powers for support<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Shifting Dynamics in the Modern Oil Industry<\/h3>\n
        \n
      • National oil companies have become vertically integrated like Western predecessors<\/li>\n
      • Major shift towards supplying East Asia, especially China, forming an “East-East” oil circuit<\/li>\n
      • Western companies still dominate in North America\/Europe, focusing on offshore and shale oil<\/li>\n
      • Oil companies explicitly committed to maximizing production despite climate change<\/li>\n
      • Petrochemicals seen as “future of oil” by the industry<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Climate Change and Government Action<\/h3>\n
          \n
        • Recent climate summits have made little progress on controlling fossil fuels<\/li>\n
        • Oil-producing states actively work to obstruct climate policy<\/li>\n
        • Even as renewables expand, overall fossil fuel consumption continues to increase<\/li>\n
        • Oil-producing regions like the Gulf facing accelerated climate impacts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          Recommendations for Climate Action<\/h3>\n
            \n
          • Book aims to highlight oil’s pervasive role in all aspects of modern life<\/li>\n
          • Systemic change needed, not just technical solutions<\/li>\n
          • Change must come through social\/political movements, not current governments or energy producers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Adam Hanieh is a Professor of Political Economy. His latest book, Crude Capitalism, aims to help us understand the nature of the fossil fuel economy, which he considers essential for … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1737,2,57],"tags":[2742,596,810,2749,494,1997],"class_list":["post-116311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-interviews","category-utilities","tag-adam-hanieh","tag-climate-crisis","tag-colonialism","tag-dec-2024","tag-fossil-fuels","tag-international-political-economy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}