Seizing Power

How oil volatility may lead to violence among oil powers

The world supply of oil is running out. Meanwhile, the balance of oil power is shifting away from the United States and the Arab states toward national oil companies (NOCs) in Russia, China, and some emerging economies in Africa and South America. As developing countries seek a middle-class existence, their demand for oil grows exponentially, causing oil prices to spiral, turning some into international bullies. Until another fuel is found the world risks being at the mercy of these tyrants whose insatiable appetites for higher oil prices heighten competition and spur the threat of violence, domestic as well as global.

In Seizing Power: The Grab for Global Oil Wealth, bestselling author Robert Slater:

• Profiles petroaggressors like Russia's Putin, Venezuela's Chavez, and IranÕs Ahmadinejad
• Describes how oil-rich outlaw nations are using a valuable natural resource as a weapon in global politics
• Warns that, as oil dwindles, these outlaw nations may turn upon one another in the fight for what oil is left

Seizing Power clearly explains why oil is potentially toxic to world stability.

Acknowledgments.

Introduction: The Parable of São Tomé.

1 Edging Toward Violence and Chaos.

2 Two African Oil Nations: A Study in Contrasts.

3 China Invades Africa.

4 Power in the Desert: The Gulf and the Middle East.

5 Testing the Oil System: The War, the Embargo, and Spare Capacity.

6 The History of Oil and the American Dream.

7 Ethics and Oil.

8 Hedging: Insurance or Speculation?

9 How Much Oil Is Left . . . and How Willing Is the United States to Drill for It?

10 Oil for the Lamps of China . . . and India.

11 Power Shift.

12 Russia: Putin's War Against the Oligarchs.

13 Iran: Arrogance as an Oil Strategy.

14 Venezuela: The World According to Chávez.

15 Brazil and Petrobras: A National Oil Company in a Better World.

16 After the Power Shift: Where Will It All Lead?

List of Chapter Opening Illustrations.

About the Author.

Index.

Robert Slater has written about such major business personalities as George Soros, Jack Welch, and Bill Gates. His books have appeared on the BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times bestseller lists. Slater lives in Israel and New York. The Shifting Global Oil Power Structure: Historical Perspectives, Risks, and Resolutions

Oil, from pricing and purchasing to drilling and trading, is a commodity surrounded by fierce debate. Its impact is felt by even casual consumers around the world, and whether you're filling a tank of gas for the commute to work or buying a plastic bottle of water, you're interacting with either petroleum products or products reliant on petroleum.

Our growing dependence on this precious natural resource has led to its extreme increase in price and production over the past four decades—from a price of $1.80 per barrel in the 1960s to a high of $145 in July 2008 to an unstable and volatile price in the $80s during the spring of 2010. This wild growth has ramifications larger than the surging cost of derivative products and has led to excessive enrichment and power in dangerously aggressive nations.

In Seizing Power, author Robert Slater discusses the rising danger of global oil power as it has shifted over the past several decades into the hands of a few newly wealthy nations. Page by page, he asks and answers important questions regarding the present oil supremacy and reveals what the future political landscape could look like. Topics touched upon include:

• Growing consumption by India and China

• The new Middle East, including Iran, the UAE, and the Saudis

• Peak oil, speculators, and the volatile price problem

• The risks of Russian oil

• Drilling at home and abroad

• South America: Venezuela and Brazil

• The ethics of the oil business

• Oil power in Africa

Filled with in-depth insights and practical points, Seizing Power argues that until we find an alternative and cost-efficient fuel to run the engines of industry, we will remain at the mercy of those who control one of the world's most precious resources.

Praise for Seizing Power: The Grab for Global Oil Wealth

"In Seizing Power, Robert Slater takes a whole new slant on the oil issue, offering for the first time an analysis of how the ongoing oil crisis could trigger increased turbulence, even violence between the new breed of petroaggressors. He explains in clear language with lots of powerful anecdotes how a wide range of 'second tier' countries in Africa and Asia are suddenly competing for and acquiring vast oil wealth and power. A must-read for those wondering how these new oil actors are reacting to a much tougher oil environment."
—Matthew R. Simmons, Chairman Emeritus, Simmons & Company International; author of Twilight in the Desert

Seizing Power takes a look at the shifting balance of today's global oil power. In it, New York Times bestselling author Robert Slater explores the motives of international petroaggressors such as Russia's Vladimir Putin, Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and others whose natural resources and hunger for power and money have left us with difficult choices.

With oil prices soaring and the world's oil supply depleting, Seizing Power raises the critical question of whether the petroaggressors' increased oil wealth, due to higher oil prices, might mean greater violence among the old and new oil powers.

If you want to gain a better understanding of today's shifting global oil power structure, and its implications for tomorrow, then read Seizing Power. With it, you'll quickly discover the real-world risks, and possible resolutions, surrounding this dynamic arena.