Oil Trade: Politics and Prospects (Cambridge Energy and Environment Series) [Hardcover]

J. E. Hartshorn (Author)

Book Description

Series: Cambridge Energy and Environment Series | Publication Date: August 27, 1993

This book is a descriptive analysis of current influences in the world oil trade. It is concerned with a central unchanged paradox of the industry--its preoccupation with maximizing the production of high-cost rather than low-cost oil. It follows the rise and decline of OPEC monopoly power in the crude market, shows how growth in the international oil business has almost ceased since the late seventies, and explores the reasons behind this slowdown. The author has had twenty-five years of practical consultancy in petroleum economics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...for anyone seeking understanding of the forces driving the industry, this is the only book they need to read--or, so far as I know, that attempts the task." Times Literary Supplement

"...a serious and original discussion of the economics of the international petroleum trade, its present, and most particularly, its future....this is a fascinating and rich book, tossing out important and thought-provoking ideas one does not necessarily agree with." Middle East Policy

Book Description

This book is a descriptive analysis of current influences in the world oil trade. It is concerned with a central unchanged paradox of the industry SH its preoccupation with maximising the production of high-cost rather than low-cost oil. It follows the rise and decline of OPEC monopoly power in the crude market, and shows how growth in the international oil business has almost ceased since the late seventies, exploring the reasons behind this slow-down. The author has had twenty-five years of practical consultancy in petroleum economics.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 324 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (August 27, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521331439
• ISBN-13: 978-0521331432
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,801,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Oil Trade: Politics and Prospects, April 13, 2001

By 

Daniel Pipes, Middle East Forum (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oil Trade: Politics and Prospects (Cambridge Energy and Environment Series) (Hardcover)

Hartshorn takes one of the most complex subjects on the face of the earth and dispatches with grace and insight. Oil Trade covers a gamut of issues from oil exploration to investment to consumption, but two matters stand out by virtue of their originality and their vast implications. First, Hartshorn argues that the Seven Sisters and the Texas Railroad Commission administered prices much better than do the OPEC states. You didn't see Exxon and Mobil hurling abuses across a conference table when they ran the show; all intent on making money, they succeeded quietly and effectively in carving up the market. But OPEC states, as sovereign and political entities, could not do this (think of Iraq and Kuwait). Failing to cooperate, OPEC lost control of the market. Hartshorn's argument suggests that in the long term the consumer gains from OPEC's nationalization of its oil industries in the 1970s-certainly not the way it appeared then. Second, he emphasizes the "central paradox" of the oil business: consumers are racing through the high-cost oil (in places like the United States) and avoiding the low-cost oil (in the Persian Gulf). Implicitly, everyone who invests in producing energy outside the Persian Gulf gambles that the Saudis, Kuwaitis, and others will continue not to flood the market with huge amounts of inexpensive oil. If they did, their oil would drive everyone else's out. Hartshorn sees this situation rendering prices inherently precarious, but thinks the gamble a good one for the Saudis et al. have little incentive to overturn the apple cart.

Middle East Quarterly, June 1994