ABSTRACT
A description of the world’s oil industry demands the use of many superlatives. By any standards it is the world’s leading industry in size; it is probably the only international industry that concerns every country in the world; and, as a result of the geographical separation of regions of major production from regions of high consumption, it is first in importance in its contribution to the world’s tonnage of international trade and shipping. Because of these and other attributes, such as its involvement in both national and international affairs, a day rarely passes without oil being in the news. Often the significance of such news items is not apparent in isolation or without some background knowledge of the way in which the industry has been and is organized internationally, and of its impact upon individual countries and groups of countries in which its operations and interests lie. This book aims at providing such a background by describing and analysing the oil industry’s affairs and relationships around the world.
