History of British Petroleum
1 primary work • 2 total works
Volume 2
Based on unrestricted access to papers and personnel at BP, as well as numerous other sources, this second volume of BP's history aims to be an honest and comprehensive examination of the company in the period 1928–1954. Such a history inevitably touches on many different historical interests ranging from international relations to social, economic, political and military topics, primarily in Britain and the Middle East. The 1994 book includes penetrating insights into the direction and management of the company, the achievements and shortcomings of successive chairmen, and the relationship between the company and its major shareholder, the British Government. It also deals in detail with matters which have retained an aura of controversy and mystique long after their occurrence, most notably the international petroleum cartel which sought to control world oil markets, and the major international crisis arising from Iran's oil nationalisation.
Dramatic narrative, arresting analysis and original research are combined in this book, which addresses the history of one of the world's biggest oil businesses between 1950 and 1975. Assessing BP's comparative performance, the book focuses on how BP responded politically, economically and culturally to the rise of new competitors, the decline of Britain's imperial power, and the determination of nation states to assert national sovereignty over the vital commodity, oil. Climaxing with the OPEC crisis which shook the world in the 1970s, the book - authorised by BP with uniquely unrestricted access to its records - is of wide interest and relevance, especially for those interested in big business, globalisation and nationalism, international affairs, OPEC, the Middle East, and oil.