Overview

The control of energy and its resources is linked deeply to the desire for power, and the quest for oil and gas tells a particularly dramatic tale that reflects mankind’s often stormy progress through history. Hydrocarbons and their discovery as a utility found their cradle in the Caucasus and Caspian region. After a century of booming production became curtailed by decades of Cold War isolation and Soviet mismanagement the story continues as the region becomes a key player in global energy production. Originally published in 1998, this book charts the history of the fossil fuels industry in this pivotal region from ancient civilizations through to the new millennium. This was the first overview to be written of the world’s original oil and gas industry. It also details how oil – and to a lesser extent – gas has developed from a mere commodity into a potent strategic-political tool.

Full Product Details

9781041159551

Table of Contents

Reviews

Original Review of Oil and Gas in the Caucasus and Caspian: ‘Charles van der Leeuw’s study of the Caspian region presents a fascinating counter-part to the more widely-known history of oil development and exploitation in the Persian Gulf States…Throughout the course of his work, van der Leeuw attempts to focus on the turbulent and often violent consequences of Caucasian oil development over the past two millennia…’ Benjamin Schwantes, Iranian Studies Vol 36, No. 3 (2003) ‘…fantastically detailed…’ The Energy Journal, Vol 23, Issue 2 (2002)

Author Information

Charles van der Leeuw is a Dutch writer and journalist. Wroking as a media correspondent in war-torn Lebanon in the late 1980s he was kinapped. After his release his book Lebanon: The Injured Innocence was published. In early 1991 he wrote one of the first books on the Kuwait crisis, Kuwait Burns. He was a war correspondent in Baku during the early 1990s, covering the armed conflicts in the southern Caucasus region.

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