James Bamberg, British Petroleum and Global Oil, 1950-1975: The Challenge of Nationalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. xxviii + 637 pp. £80 or $130 (hardback), ISBN: 0-521-25951-7; £25 or $40 (paperback), ISBN: 0-521-78515-4.

Reviewed for EH.NET by Jonathan Brown, Rural History Centre, University of Reading.

Oil is the fuel of modern economies. So important has it become that the post-war world has faced a succession of oil-related political crises, as the mainly western oil-consuming powers have tussled in their relationships with mainly middle-eastern oil producers.

It is with one of the first of these crises that this book opens. In 1951 the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company faced a major shock to its system when the government of Iran decided to nationalize the firm's oil concession. What might have appeared a local problem for this one company soon broadened, as its resolution drew in the British government, majority shareholder in Anglo-Iranian, to negotiations with the Iranian government. The eventual solution widened the scope of the matter again, with the formation of a consortium of international companies to operate Iran's main oilfields.

This crisis was but a precursor to many others, of steadily increasing international importance. There was the Suez crisis of 1956, the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, the rise of radical nationalist governments in several middle-eastern countries during the 1950s and 1960s, marked most strongly by the accession of Col. Gaddafi in Libya. The series of measures to nationalize the assets of international oil companies that Gaddafi sparked off in his own and other countries led on to the OPEC crisis of the early 1970s, when oil prices were dramatically increased and production reduced for a time.

This was the international context in British Petroleum (BP) had to develop its business. In 1951 the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company might have been looking forward to a moderately peaceful post-war existence. It had its large oil concession and refinery at Abadan, which represented about three-quarters of the company's production of crude oil. The extent and importance of the Iranian oilfield was that, even with such concentration of resources, Anglo-Iranian was included among the seven major oil companies of the world. The firm had established reasonably good working relationships with its Iranian hosts, while its own management culture was akin to a branch of colonial administration, with managers doing service in Iran before returning to London to gain seniority in headquarters administration.

The loss of its major concession shook the company out of its established habits. The firm's management acted quickly to secure new sources of supply, and to bring refining capacity in Britain and Europe into action. By 1954 the firm, now renamed British Petroleum (BP), had refocused its activities. It was more broadly based in its exploration and production, with oil concessions in many more countries; it was developing new markets; its financial position was stronger. Although it regained a place in Iran as the major shareholder in the new consortium of international oil companies, BP was now set on course to become a truly international business.

British Petroleum and Global Oil, volume three of a series on the history of BP, describes that transformation. By 1975 the firm was still among the leading international oil companies. It had achieved outstanding success in exploration, especially, for example in Alaska and the North Sea. It was weaker than many of the oil majors in other respects, nevertheless BP was now refining and marketing petroleum-based products in nearly every continent and had diversified into petrochemicals, and even computer consultancy. Global expansion had also necessitated major changes to its management into a more complex structure.

British Petroleum and Global Oil is business history at its best, weaving together the twin themes of the global expansion of the one company and the international politics of oil with great dexterity. It is a readable account that should appeal beyond those primarily interested in the oil business. It is intended to stand alone, so one does not have to read the other volumes in the series. On the other hand, you are very likely to want to go back and read the others, and, even more, to be impatient for the next volume to appear, which will take us through the 1980s and 1990s.

Jonathan Brown is on the staff of the Rural History Centre, University of Reading, and recent writing includes a contribution on the state and the National Farmers' Union in Agriculture and Politics in England, 1815-1939, edited by J. R. Wordie (Palgrave, 2000).