100 Years of Oil

The beauty of the Internet is that I learn a little something every day in my travels through cyber space. One of the things I learned was that yesterday, 26 May 2008, was the 100th anniversary of the discovery of oil in the former Persia or modern day Iran.

So, it is fair to say that it was a discovery that changed world history and made lots of people very rich!

Who would have thought that such a discovery would lead to wars, violence, green house gases, the destruction of the environment, and myriad of other problems. But then again who would have thought at the time that oil would allow societies to ramp up their industrialization and become powerhouses of manufacturing and technology. Perhaps it is true there is always an argument for good and evil, the light and the dark; Alfred Nobel knew this better than most and we have an annual peace prize along with other Nobel Prizes on offer as testament to the evil inherent in all good when abused.

Rather than continue this rant into uncharted territories of my brain, the point really was to highlight that the 100th anniversary of the discovery of oil has just passed. Now, is a good a time as any for some reflection on from where we have come and to where we are heading.

The key players in this discovery over time have been William D'Arcy, Winston Churchill, Burmah Oil Company, Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, British Petroleum or BP, among others.