The Squeeze

Oil, Money and Greed in the 21st Century (Text Only)

By: Tom Bower

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eBook | 28 June 2012

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448 Pages

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The sensational human story of the hunt for oil, and the politics, power and personalities involved.

Over the last 20 years, oil prices have soared from $7 a barrel to $147 and down to $37. Amid economic boom and bust, speculators, traders, politicians and monarchs have plotted to earn fortunes from oil, and prayed for salvation from unpredictable natural and man-made disasters. Behind the headlines are the crushing rivalries between men and women exploring for oil five miles beneath the sea, battling for control of the world's biggest corporations and gambling billions of dollars twenty-four hours every day on oil prices. Success or failure for all those extraordinary personalities depends on squeezing their rivals and squeezing the crude out of the rocks. Overweening vanity and greed absorb those titans whose ambitions are forging the world's quest for oil.

Exploiting unprecedented close access to the lives of irrepressible traders in New York, oil-oligarchs in Moscow, corporate chieftains in Dallas and London, and wily politicians floating in jets across the globe, Tom Bower presents the untold story of the most important quandary of our times: why, if there is plentiful oil in the earth, does mankind face a dire shortage threatening our lives? Self-interest is propelling the squeeze and there seems to be no salvation.

Industry Reviews

Praise for Tom Bower:

'As a psychological profile, an exploration of personal ambition and a study of political obsession driven by religious angst, this biography is gripping.' Daily Telegraph

'Intensively researched but coolly critical...this remains the most thorough biography we have.' Independent

'What makes this worth reading is Bower's damning indictment of Brown's main boast: his supposedly sure stewardship of the economy.' The Times

'A powerful book which poses serious questions.' James Naughtie

'Compulsively readable...essential reading.' Norman Lamont

'Bower gets the big strategic judgements, most admirably in his scepticism about the fashionable theory known as 'peak oil' Sunday Times

'..there's nobody more diligent than Bower' Dominic Lawson, The Sunday Times

"a shattering critique which will leave...readers angry" The Independent

"a roller-coaster account of the past 30 years of the oil industry....he has a real sense of the drama of deal-making and deal-breaking....Bower is particularly entertaining on the vast Russian oil industry" Daily Telegraph