The Squeeze: Oil, Money & Greed In The 21st Century

by Tom Bower

A groundbreaking, in-depth, and authoritative twenty-year history of the hunt and speculation for our most vital natural resource. Oil, Money, Politics, and Power in the 21st Century. Twenty years ago oil cost about $7 a barrel. In 2008 the price soared to $148 and then fell to below $40. In the midst of this extraordinary volatility, the major oil conglomerates still spent over a trillion dollars in an increasingly frantic search for more. The story of oil is a story of high stakes and extreme risk. It is the story of 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's prices. It is the story of corporate chieftains in Dallas and London, traders in New York, oil-oligarchs in Moscow, and globe-trotting politicians-all maneuvering for power. With the world as his canvas, acclaimed investigative reporter Tom Bower gathers unprecedented firsthand information from hundreds of sources to give readers the definitive, untold modern history of oil . . . the ultimate story of arrogance, intrigue, and greed.

Genres: Politics, Business, Nonfiction, History, Economics

576 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

For the author of works on child development, see T.G.R. Bower

Tom Bower (born 28 September 1946) is a British writer, noted for his investigative journalism and for his unauthorized biographies.

A former Panorama reporter, his books include unauthorised biographies of Tiny Rowland, Robert Maxwell, Mohamed Al-Fayed, Geoffrey Robinson, Gordon Brown and Richard Branson.

He won the 2003 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award for Broken Dreams, an investigation into corruption in English football. His joint biography of Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel Conrad and Lady Black: Dancing on the Edge was published in November 2006, and an unsuccessful libel case over a passing mention of Daily Express proprietor Richard Desmond in the book was heard in July 2009.

An unauthorised biography by Bower of Richard Desmond, provisionally entitled Rough Trader, awaits publication. Bowers's biography of Simon Cowell, written with Cowell's co-operation, was published on 20 April, 2012.

Bower is married to Veronica Wadley, former editor of the London Evening Standard, and has four children.

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a bit too close to home. I have worked as an oil trader for nearly 30 years in the US and Singapore. Many of the characters and sources are familiar and, in some cases, business associates. I feel compelled to admit that what drew me to this book was not the cheap bargain basement price. I learned that an old business competitor/adversary was a major source for this book (in fact, there is an entire chapter devoted him). His colleagues disclosed to me that the book infuriated him. After reading it, I have to agree. We'll keep it anonymous but it was not kind to him. I am grateful the author overlooked me as well.
The book takes aim at some of the dodgier executives in the oil business, notably the Russian oligarchs and fugitive oil trader Marc Rich. The author details how growing resource nationalism has prompted government heads like Putin and Chavez to renege on promises and rewrite contracts. The book is not kind to former CEOs like Lee Raymond of Exxon, Phil Watts of Shell and John Browne of BP, but then, as an oil industry partisan, I have to admit that many of the criticisms here are accurate and deserved.
There are a few books out there that try to describe the world of oil trading ..Metal Men by Craig Copetas, the King of Oil by Daniel Amman and Rigged by Ben Mezrich. Each of those books have flaws (it is not clear whether the Mezrich book is factual or a roman a clef). This book does a better job of catching the spirit and energy of an oil trading room. The author contacted many rank and file traders who laid out their strategies and market approaches. He lays out the strategies behind each "squeeze" in language that lay persons can follow. In this respect, this book was quite helpful. I was also gratified to read the author's lengthy panegyric on Andy Hall, the phenomenal trading boss of Phibro who called the markets right and went mega-long in the early 2000s. The author credits Hall's business success not only to his willingness to bet his hunches but included his voracious reading habits. My Good Books count is nudging towards 500 (at least the books I remember reading) but I could use a payday like Andy Hall's.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oil plays such an important role in our lives. Oil, money, politics and power go hand in hand. It's amazing how much we depend on oil just to live our lives daily. I can remember when gas was $.99 per gallon and now it's usually around $2.50 in the area I live in. The price has went up a great deal and there are many reasons. If you want to understand oil and how it controls so much of what we do this is the book for you. Tom gets straight the basics and then elaborates, so the book has a certain flow that is constant throughout.

[Jeffrey Bostick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely worth slogging through for an insider's view of the mechanics and the politics of international oil business. Trouble is that the take is almost a little too insidery. Long stretches of the book read like personal magazine profiles of this or that CEO which would be okay if these details were more relevant. But mainly it reads almost like entertainment gossip.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bower gets under the skin of the oil magnates, and shows their true colours. The people that run this industry are ruthless, manipulative, complicit in manipulating the market and greedy beyond belief.

[Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Observing modern oil industry and how no single government, corporation, or OPEC can control oil markets.

[K.J. Cartmell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oil gives readers a detailed cross-section of the oil industry, from oil majors like Exxon and Chevron to national producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia, to traders who speculate on whether oil prices will rise or fall. I recognized many names in the long the list of characters, including Presidents Clinton and Bush, Al Gore, Rex Tillerson and Vladimir Putin. Bower, with the instincts of a journalist, follows the drama while letting the staid and boring off the hook. He follows B.P.'s flamboyant CEO John Browne closely, and he revels in the dysfunctional marriage of Royal Dutch and Shell. He portrays Exxon management as being arrogant and its work culture militaristic and stifling.

The amount of money in oil is staggering. With "easy oil" all but exhausted, new reserves take billions of dollars to exploit, with potential payoffs in the hundreds of billions. This money attracts corrupt politicians, inept and underfunded regulators, and brilliant but greedy minds from all over the world. Bowers portrays each in turn without much in the way of editorial comment.

The book is over 15 years old at this point, but Bowers book has much to teach us about a complex and controversial industry.

[Monzenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great spiritual successor to The Prize, which this book lauds as well. While The Prize ended with the Gulf War, this one ends with the meteoric oil price rise to $150 and subsequent fall. What the book does best is to introduce the power players, and specifically what they can and can't do to influence oil prices. Lots of geopolitics, company politics, and of course market operations. It's a great bridge to the 2010s, which of course it didn't know about the upcoming shale revolution, but it remained balanced in looking at both peak oil and technological innovations that it can be forgiven for not "predicting" the increased oil output (it's not in the business of predicting anyway, only storytelling). A book that any interested markets, economics, or commodities person would benefit from reading.

[GreyAtlas · Rating 2 out of 5]

My trust in the author and editor soured when they referred to Dmitry Medvedev, with a clear photo, as "Vladimir Medvedev". Just how on Earth does anyone fuck that up, seriously?

This book is a rambling, and at times purely numerical data, history of a few massive corrupt companies with men who think they can rule the world instead of governments. So instead of currency the world is run on oil. Seems accurate.

Definetly not a light, or even engaging, read. Unless you have deep interest in the subject, I'm sure there are better books out there than this. I skimmed alot of it tbh.

[Ajay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oil, Money, Politics, and Power in the 21st century. An epic story of 20 years of rivalries and gambles to control and profit from oil. This book follows corporate leaders of Big Oil companies like BP, Shell, and Exxon, oil-oligarchs in the post-soviet union, traders in New York, and globe-trotting politicians. This is a strong work of investigative journalism filled with untold stories and intrigue.
Best read as a compliment to Daniel Yergin's "The Prize".

[Arjun Murti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of 2000s era oil markets

A well done history of the 2000s era oil markets. Kudos to the author for both digging into the details and also presenting that history in a pretty balanced manner.

[Grindy Stone · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tough to get past the first dozen pages of this. I feel like the author started to rip-off "The Prize" and did so by starting in the middle of a narrative. Avoid this frisbee.

[Walusimbi Wyckliff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks

[David James · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot of information in this one, but it's poorly arranged. What could have been an excellent examination of the people involved at the top of the oil world and the way they have impacted recent history (Bower is focused on roughly 1980 onward), is bogged down by constantly shifting timelines and narratives that leave the book difficult to follow.

It's a shame, because the stories he tells are quite dramatic and offer an illuminating look at the impact oil and those who produce it have on our daily lives. But by not arranging things chronologically, it becomes very hard to remember who did what, when they did it and why. Readers are often unable to consider events in the light of what preceded them, because the earlier events frequently aren't relayed until later in the book.

For those obsessed with books about oil (and I'm one of them) there's more than enough here to warrant reading this one, but it's more of a struggle than it needed to be. Had he followed Daniel Yergin's narrative flow in his epic work, "The Prize," Bower could have produced a worthy successor, a book that clearly documented the role of oil in history and current events. Instead he's turned out a hodgepodge. It's too bad his editor didn't steer him right on that.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an analysis of the role of the oil industry over the first part of the 21st century and the big oil companies. OPEC's role is also considered. Here, the politics and economics of big oil are discussed as they affect the world. The personalities of the major players, heads of the companies, are looked at. I thought that it was an interesting read that gave insight into why the price of oil quadrupled since the embargo of the 1970s.

[Tony Limjuco]

Illuminating non-fictional account so far of how the modern oil industry came about, most notably of BP's troubled rise to prominence, and just how those Russian oligarchs got quite so rich. Quite relevant reading today in light of the now capped Macondo well. I'll see how the rest unfolds.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

A long slow read focused on the personalities behind large western oil companies. I was definitely hoping for more of a look at the role of China in today's oil industry, and as such was disappointed.

[Sean]

a great read so far!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapter 10 was great, really insightful on the rise of BP

[Ahmed Uzair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Topical and well written. Recommended.

[Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was very interesting. It gave a lot of insight into an industry whose necessity is so woven into the fabric of our daily lives. I look forward to the day when we can rely on clean energy.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of vignettes with no overarching theme.