Ninety percent of the world’s oil reserves are entrusted to state-owned companies. Originally created as political instruments, these so-called national oil companies (NOCs) face new demands amid today’s dwindling oil reserves and simmering social pressures. Increasingly, state-owned oil firms--particularly in the Middle East--must balance the political demands of their governments with the need to be commercially competitive. In this ground-breaking new volume, Valérie Marcel draws on unprecedented access to the politicians, engineers, and businessmen directing five Middle Eastern state oil companies to illuminate one of international industry’s most secretive yet powerful sectors. The author tells the stories of Saudi Aramco, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, the National Iranian Oil Company, Sonatrach of Algeria, and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. Taken together, these oil titans produce one quarter of the world’s oil and hold half of the world’s known oil and gas reserves. Marcel explains the complex bond between each state and its oil company, tracing evolution of the companies from the politically charged days of foreign concessions to today’s world of profit-driven decisionmaking. Drawing on numerous and extensive interviews with company executives, middle managers, and oil ministry officials, Marcel identifies a number of surprising new trends in NOC strategy. She also paints a picture of their operating culture, capturing their nascent sense of corporate identity. Contributor John V. Mitchell, a renowned oil industry analyst, puts the operations and culture of NOCs into a wider macroeconomic context. He shows how the hydrocarbon sector fits into the overall national economies and discusses how it must adapt to rapidly changing circumstances in order to offset economic weaknesses elsewhere. Oil Titans provides rare and timely insight into how state-owned companies are striking a new balance between their national mission and their commercial needs. It provides an insider’s guide to their unique culture while demonstrating the critically important role they plan in developing and maintaining their country’s economic welfare.
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"Marcel had unique access to the inner life of the [national oil] companies." --Willy Olsen, former senior adviser to the president & CEO of Statoil
"Marcel is to be congratulated on this timely and well-done report from the field." --Mary-Ann Tetreault, Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas)
"Marcel is to be congratulated on this timely and well-done report from the field." --Mary-Ann Tetreault, Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas)
About the Author
Valérie Marcel is principal researcher at Chatham House. John V. Mitchell is associate research fellow at Chatham House and former special adviser to the managing directors of British Petroleum. They are coauthors of Iraq's Oil Tomorrow (Chatham House, 2003).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A rare find for the National Oil Companies!,
By Donald Hsu (NYC, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Oil Titans (Paperback)
Everyone knows the seven sisters: Standard Oil (Exxon), Royal Dutch Shell, Anglo-Iranian Oil (British Petroleum), Texaco, Socony (then Mobil), Gulf, and Standard Oil California (Chevron). Gulf, Texaco merged with Chevron. Exxon merged with Mobil. Seven became four. French Total merged with Fina, is another giant. Very few people knew anything about the Middle East oil companies. This book covers 5 of them: 1. Abu Dubai National Oil Company (ADNOC), 2. Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), 3. National Iran Oil Company (NIOC), 4. Saudi Arabia Aramco, and 5. Sonatrach of Algeria. The government owns at least 51% of these national oil companies. In the west, most oil engineers are 50 years old. In these 5 companies, majority are young men, 25 to 30 years old. They speak English, make nice PowerPoint presentation, and have good IT skills. They are learning the oil business and they are very proud to be employed by the national oil firms. The rest of the countries are not doing well, even with the high oil rents collected by the government. Oil rents cannot be the only source of income. These government need to develop other industries to provide jobs for the young. Other OPEC countris: Iraq, Qatar, Libya, Indonesia, Venezuela have national oil companies too. It has good coverage on National Oil Libya, Petronas of Malaysia, Petrobras Brazil, Pertamina Indonesia, Qatar National Gas Company, Statoil Norway, Nigeria National Petroleum Corp, Petroleos De Venezuela SA(PDVSA), Pemex Mexico, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), and Gazprom Russia. With the increasing global demand and the rise of the oil prices, these companies need to train their engineers, collaborate with the 5 international oil giants, and continue to develop pipelines and distributions. Their work is cut out for them for the next 20 years. I recommend this book for any one who wishes to learn the global oil buiness. It would be better if CEOs, company information, websites of these five firms are included.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sophistical look inside Middle East oil companies,
This review is from: Oil Titans: National Oil Companies in the Middle East (Hardcover)
Don't look now, but five nationally owned oil companies (NOCs) control more than half the world's reserves of oil and natural gas. In today's media-steeped culture you might expect those companies to be under a constant microscope, but actually their operations tend to be cloaked in bureaucratic smoke. Valerie Marcel's book sheds valuable light on the way these companies operate and the red-tape constraints they face. While the book suffers from a rather colorless presentation, it more than compensates for this with insights into what the NOCs are and how they relate to the world's insatiable thirst for petroleum. We recommend this book to serious students of the global energy business.
1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Informative!,
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This review is from: Oil Titans (Paperback)
This is a very informative book about the real economic situation in the countries of the middle east and the business of oil. Is startling to realize that, thought there is a big income because of the oil now days, the producers countries face problems regarding internal subsidies and that the NOCs (National Oil Companies) are the source of jobs for the country, even thought most cases are not needed. The book show the companies that are doing well and also those with problems. In my opinion is vital for these countries to diversify its economy, thinking on what to do next after the oil age, and I'm not talking of gas only.
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