27 May 2008

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.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Rob

Do you have a gmail email account??

GJ

Rob Baiton said...

rob.baiton[at]gmail[dot]com

pj said...

Rob

If you are interested there is a good book by Daniel Yergin called "The Prize". Its basically a history of the oil business from the late 19th century to the 1990's. Lots of stories about this discovery and many others.

Rob Baiton said...

PJ...

I will see if I can track it down here in Jakarta...

There was the recent movie "There will be Blood" with Daniel Day Lewis which I would also like to watch; historical fiction and escapist entertainment all rolled into one -- perfect for lazy bastards like me!

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