Outside Magazine
August 25, 2014
In the 1970s and 1980s, Texaco extracted more than a billion barrels of oil from the Ecuadorean rainforest but spilled an estimated 400,000. In 1993, locals filed a class action against the company. That case is ongoing—it’s a legal version of the Amazon, serpentine ...
Crude World
2009
(Excerpted from “Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil” by Peter Maass)
The addictions of Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela, are regularly
in full view. On his television show, Aló Presidente, Chávez sips espresso
from a white porcelain cup, and because ...
The New York Review of Books
September 29, 2011
The anniversary of the largest oil spill in American history passed with little notice this summer. On July 15, 2010, the ruptured BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico was finally sealed after gushing oil for nearly three months, but there were few stories ...
The New York Review of Books
September 9, 2011
How can you turn $3.2 billion into $500 billion in a day?
If you are Vladimir Putin, the prime minister of Russia, and Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon, you announce a deal that allows Exxon to explore for oil in Russia’s Arctic waters. According ...
The Wall Street Journal
August 21, 2010
(The Wall Street Journal publishes a column every week in which an author lists the five best books on a particular subject. This is my list on oil.)
1. The History of the Standard Oil Company
By Ida M. Tarbell
McClure, Phillips, 1904
John D. Rockefeller’s ...
Foreign Policy
August 5, 2010
Shortly after the Marines rolled into Baghdad and tore down a statue of Saddam Hussein, I visited the Ministry of Oil. American troops surrounded the sand-colored building, protecting it like a strategic jewel. But not far away, looters were relieving the National Museum ...
The Big Money
June 7, 2010
I needed to fill up the gas tank of a rental van a few days ago. The first station that came into view was a BP on 110th Street in Manhattan. I had to make a quick decision—should I buy gas from a company responsible for the largest oil spill in U.S. history?
I laughed at ...
The Big Money
September 22, 2009
(The following excerpt from “Crude World” was published by TheBigMoney.com.)
I liked most oil executives I have met. They were hardworking men with a thrill for the deal, a fear of failure, and a moral compass that occasionally ...
Foreign Policy
September 8, 2009
Across the globe, oil is invoked as an agent of destiny. Oil will make you rich, oil will make you poor, oil will bring war, oil will deliver peace, oil will shape our world as much as the glaciers did in the Ice Age.
But how?
Oil is not a machine that can be disassembled ...
Slate
June 24, 2008
A pop quiz: Who is the worst dictator in Africa?
a) Robert Mugabe
b) Robert Mugabe
c) Robert Mugabe
d) None of the above
The answer seems obvious. Thanks to extensive coverage in the news media and abundant criticism by Western governments, everyone knows that Zimbabwe’s leader ...
