The Oil Road: Journeys From The Caspian Sea To The City Of London

by James Marriott, Mika Minio-Paluello

From Caspian drilling rigs and Caucasus mountain villages to Mediterranean fishing communities and European capitals, this is a journey through the heart of our oil-obsessed society. Blending travel writing and investigative journalism, it charts a history of violent confrontation between geopolitics, profit and humanity. From the revolutionary futurism of 1920s Baku to the unblinking capitalism of modern London, this book reveals the relentless drive to control fossil fuels. Harrowing, powerful and insightful, The Oil Road maps the true cost of oil.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Economics, Ecology

376 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Elmir Mukhtarov · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is well-structured, relatively insightful, and easy to understand. I also quite enjoyed the occasional detailed descriptions/backstories of towns, mountains, rivers and etc. On the other hand, it is too biased against the Baku - Tbilisi - Ceyhan project. At times, the authors seem too radical and a little out of touch with the economic realities of the day. Also, certain figures, organizations and governments are portrayed as "pure evil" whilst others are "inherently good", which is also not in line with the reality.

[Anne Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent book, though it took me a long time to read! And struggle to retell much of it in dates for my friends. But such an excellent idea - the writers are clearly interested in the serious issues of oil pipelines, the climate emergency and global capitalism, but they have created a read which is a fascinating 'mix' of travel guide, including interviews with local communities along the route from Azerbaijan to the UK. I so enjoyed the experience - and learned such a lot that I had never been aware of before. or had but hadnt perceived the significance .....
eg the Nagorno-Karabakh disputed territory between Armenians and Azeris - and their strategic position both with regard to Russia and the oil pipelines;
eg the role of the Nobel family in the oil and explosives businesses (I'd only kmown them previously as sponsors of the prizes)
eg the Borjomi mineral water crisis caused by the proximity of the pipeline, which prompted friends of the Earth to mount a massive protest in London
eg many campaigns across eastern and Western Europe against the BTC pipeline
eg the role of Ceyhan (and fears of damage after the earthquake earlier this year being so close) and Trieste and the Alps
eg much info about Germany's slow march towards oil - for vehicles rather than domestic heating

I feel much more aware now of the vast and extensive tentacles the oil industry has put put into the global econopmy - especially but not exclusively BP - and the continuous support the British Government has invested in this company and this pipeline, to serve their commercial and international interests.

so pleased to have read this

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A "travelogue in search of oil," this book highlights the darker reality of oil as a literally "fluid" commodity. The trip starts out in Baku, Azerbaijan, a city which once hailed petroleum as the future. In Azerbaijan as in Georgia, which the authors also visit on their journey, the interests of the respective governments are often subservient to those of oil companies such as BP. Pipelines are guarded by police and opponents of oil pipelines are often arrested. Georgia, in particular, as a site of transport rather than one of extraction, is privy to many of the pitfalls of moving petroleum (pipes rupturing or leaking, for example), without some of the benefits. In areas where pipelines are placed dangerously close to villages, but where the majority have no access to natural gas to heat their homes, residents remark, "The gas can kill us, but we can't cook with it."

The journey moves on to the shipping of oil overseas. Again, those who shoulder the risks are not the same as those who reap the benefits. The oil's destination is Germany, where it is refined, and then to London, as well as into the grid systems of the rest of Europe. But London is a symbolic choice for the end of the expedition, as a hub for finance and commerce. The story of the oil's route is one of consumption in wealthier parts of the world beggaring the less fortunate. It's hard to read about the actions of oil companies such as BP without getting angry. (See also, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power) The oddly comical moment in which policeman harasses an activist while carrying out-of-date BP stationary seems evidence that global corporations, left unchecked, can be much more malign than hostile nations.

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

300 pages of BP being shady af.

[Leif · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book. From Baku to Ingolstadt, from the ground to the explosion: Marriot and Minio-Paluello are there, following oil through its extraction, transportation, and use and observing the social, political, and economic changes that its passage causes. There are few books like this: political geography from the ground up. There are remarkably few that are as keen-eyed as this one, or as capacious.

For each region that the piped oil crosses, the authors devote time to the particular history, culture, and politics that charactize that region. Along the way, they track the machines that produce globalization itself, with the concomitant reality of total integration (of our commodity fetishes) and total disintegration (of many social relations and even of state governance). The oily sheen of British Petroleum (or BP plc, these days) covers all, but so too does the looming ecocidal force of such cultural imperatives that demand oil and that oil enhances and facilitates.

I was frustrated often through the text, as Marriott and Minio-Paluello seem to be trying to locate criticisms of oil extraction, transportation, and use in what are brutally known as the minutae of infrastructural change - the communities that are inconsistently recompensed for their lands, the people whose lives are turned topsy-turvy as contractors come through. Yet this does little to challenge the utilitarian calculus too easily made by many potential readers of The Oil Road, and while it is the foundation of social critique, it makes for oddly powerless reading.

Stronger are the thoroughly intertwined stories of oil exploitation and modernity, from the fascists of Italy to the Stalinists of Russia - and the vulture capitalists of Great Britain and the United States of America. The material politics enabled by oil consumption and the vast wealth amassed and wielded like a blunt weapon are shocking, and the effects of this on Azerbaijan, Georgia, Italy, Germany, and so on are striking. In terms of political anthropology, the authors have done irreplaceable work. East stop is a minatory essay on the gears that power structures of global control; each city and every town is revealed for its relationships with the global economy built from ecological destruction. There is despair, but hope as well.

And you know, I haven't really even touched on what makes this such a good book to read. The authors keep the text accessible and are keen to ground their narrative in personal realities, shifting easily from stories of their interactions with BP security guards to the corporate suits whose deflections cannot mask the truth of their existence, and to their local interlocutors who are able to welcome Marriot and Minio-Paluello into their worlds. It's thick material anthropology, and that's precisely the best kind.

[Soph Nova · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a layered and informative piece of political economy that also functions as a well-written travelogue documenting the journey of oil from the bottom of the Caspian Sea to the bank accounts in the financial centre of the City of London - read it!

"Five technologies transformed Baku: drilling, which enabled wells to be sunk far deeper than anything dug by hand; refining, which created a fuel for lighting called kerosene; and, most importantly, the oil tanker, the railway and the pipeline, which enabled the distribution of vast quantities of crude and refined products."

[Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oil companies rule the world. it's so cliche that you can almost not believe it. So this is ten years old as I write, but thinking about the recent news item mentioning that Russian oil still flows through Ukrainian territory into Europe...

[Eurethius Péllitièr · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book depicting the impact of building pipelines on local communities and the collusion of the UK with oil companies

[Alex Margolies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well-researched, but also very depressing - on many levels..

Definitely worth a read though.

[Martin Empson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the world's oil comes from the Caspian Sea. Vast amounts of it flow from the off-shore oil rigs through the historic city of Baku, into Georgia, through Turkey and eventually after travelling the Mediterranean in tankers, through Europe to Germany were it is refined. The oil that flows through these pipes is extremely profitable. In September 2008 one of the rigs in the Caspian developed a gas leak and had to be shut down. Output of oil dropped by 500,000 barrels every day and the daily loss in income was $50 million dollars. This money rarely makes it into the pockets of the men and women who work the oil fields, or who live and work on the land that covers the pipeline. A little of it trickles into the coffers of some of the states that protect and helped build the pipe, but only a little. Most of it ends up in the bank accounts of BP, one of the most important components of the modern energy economy.

Full review: http://resolutereader.blogspot.co.uk/...

[Larissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

“….apart from oil and gas, what floods back and forth through the channels of these “energy corridors” is financial capital and political influence. Whereas the crude from the Caspian may ultimately power a car in southern Germany, the profit generated mainly flows to London and New York. While the governments of Azerbaijan and Georgia were involved in the creation of the pipelines, the ultimate political drivers were in Washington, London and Brussels.”… Well researched and a beautifully written account.

[Sam Groom · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding book that gives a thorough overview on Azerbaijan & Georgian politics and the shady dealings of BP