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| '''Oil imperialism''' or ''Petroleum imperialism'' asserts that direct and indirect control of world ] reserves is a root factor in current ]. They generally propose that large oil-related organizations such as the UK-based ] and American-based former ] companies play or have played a significant role in foreign policy of governments around the world. This would often be done via controversial methods such as mass ]. It is commonly linked with ]. | '''Oil imperialism''' or '''Petroleum imperialism''' asserts that direct and indirect control of world ] reserves is a root factor in current ]. They generally propose that large oil-related organizations such as the UK-based ] and American-based former ] companies play or have played a significant role in foreign policy of governments around the world. This would often be done via controversial methods such as mass ]. It is commonly linked with ]. | ||
| ==Control of oil== | ==Control of oil== | ||
Revision as of 02:05, 21 March 2015
Oil imperialism or Petroleum imperialism asserts that direct and indirect control of world petroleum reserves is a root factor in current international politics. They generally propose that large oil-related organizations such as the UK-based British Petroleum and American-based former Standard Oil companies play or have played a significant role in foreign policy of governments around the world. This would often be done via controversial methods such as mass lobbying. It is commonly linked with climate change denial.
Control of oil
While economists and historians agree that access to and control of the access of others to important resources has throughout history been a factor in warfare and in diplomacy, oil imperialism theorists generally tend to assert that control of petroleum reserves has played an overriding role in international politics since World War I. Many critics (and some supporters) of the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq as well as the 2011 Libyan civil war, argue that oil imperialism was a major driving force behind these conflicts. Some theories hold that access to oil defined 20th century empires and was the key to the ascendance of the United States as the world's sole superpower and explain how a transitioning country like Russia is able to obtain such rapid GDP growth (see Economy of the Soviet Union). Petrodollar theory states that the recent wars in Iraq are partly motivated by the desire to keep the US dollar as the international currency.
Role of the United States in oil imperialism
As Britain was losing its colonial oil dominions in many countries after WW2 the Unites States oil exports peaked during the Suez Canal crisis in 1956 in which both the United States and the Soviet Union, two of the biggest domestic producers of oil, threatened the French, Israeli and British militaries to allow Egypt to nationalize the Suez Canal. Although consumption of oil has increased imports have dropped significantly, but even with that decline, Americans still import about a fourth of the oil they use. According to Dr. Tad Patzek, the Chair of University of Texas at Austin's Department of Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering, a key issue is that " have to run full-time, at 100% capacity". The United States oil industry is based on the import of heavy, crude oil and the export of light oil and oil-related products. Excellent relations with oil-trading countries are therefore a top priority. The United States capitalist economic system makes it so that the major part of oil trade is privately run and therefore based on profit and not necessarily the good of the country. Patzek states that is it, in fact, "impossible" to have a natural energy policy and to discuss the need for increasing oil production. He also argues that the resignation of Margaret Thatcher as British Prime Minister was due to her unpopular decision to turn the United Kingdom into an oil importing (instead of exporting) country, a deemed necessary action because of its low remaining oil reserves. Various oil producing countries are of such importance to the United States that a war might actually cost less than what is gained by waging them. An often used example is the Gulf War, which was heavily lobbied for by various OPEC countries in the Middle East.
Criticism
Critics of oil imperialism theories suggest that because the United States is the third largest oil producer, and that it has historically been a leading global oil producer, the United States would be unlikely to predicate its foreign policy on the acquisition of oil with such an undue focus. They point out that, relative to its consumption rate, oil is not an expensive commodity in the market. A counter to this argument is that while the United States certainly produces a great amount of oil, many of the refineries have been specialized to rely on the much heavier crude oil from places such as Venezuela, Mexico, and the Middle East. The United States relies on importing this foreign oil and exporting their produced condensate and light crude oil, gasoline, lubricants, and other products.
See also
References
- ^ Why Is the U.S. Still Importing So Much Oil?, "We’re not bringing in the same product. The light crude oil or the condensate we are exporting is actually much different stuff than your classical medium gravity, API gravity dense crude oil that we are using in our refineries. In popular opinion, they’re all rolled into “crude oil.” But they have different compositions and they can not be processed by the same refineries. So, we are trying to export some of the light stuff, so to speak, while we are importing much heavier stuff to process in our refineries. Many of our refinieries have been specialized to process much heavier crudes from Venezuela, from Mexico, so you can’t change them overnight. That’s why we’re importing oil and we’re exporting gasoline, lubricants, and other products and at the same time, we’re exporting condensate and light crude."
- ^ "Oil Market Basics - Supply". United States Energy Information Administration. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
- "The Price of a Gallon". cockeyed.com. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
External links
- Who has the oil? Diagram: Country by size of proven oil reserves
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