Over
the years, oil has successfully brought astronomical wealth for the Middle
East. What were once one of the poorest countries on Earth are now one of the
richest. As there are 5 countries in the Middle East that are among the 25
wealthiest in the world. And those countries are Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain,
Qatar, and United Arab Emirates. The most profitable company on the planet is
Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s oil operator with $111 billion worth of profits in
2018. Yet in the last 60 years alone, there has been five major wars and five
uprisings. So, is oil really a blessing or a curse for the Middle East?
Oil
has transformed and shaped our lives. Simply with oil we get plastics, which we
see in our daily lives in everything, from shoes, technology, and even
medicine. When someone mention oil, your mind immediately brings you to one
place, the Middle East. With a handful of countries all clustered together that
supply well over a third of all the oil the world uses. It all begins in the
early 1900s when a British geologist named George Bernard Reynolds discovers
oil in Persia. A year after that the Anglo-Persian Oil Company is launched. As
the timing couldn’t be any better, the World War I proved that oil makes a far
better energy source than coal and demand immediately grows.
So
how come the Middle East blessed with so much oil? At least 100 million years
ago, what’s now desert in the Middle East was actually the bed of an inland
sea. Microscopic organisms sank to the bottom of the sea, getting crushed. Over
the centuries as the Earth gets warmer, they pressure-cooked and turned into
crude oil. When the World War II breaks out, the Allies make sure Hitler never
gets his hands on it. The high demand for oil during the war and in the years
following encourage companies to hunt for more.
Unscarred
by the war, America’s factories quickly pivot from making weapons to consumer
goods, increasing America’s thirst for oil. As the Middle Eastern nations
realize how much wealth is lying beneath their feet, France and Britain started
to lose their global influence and their grip on the oil supply. The Middle
Eastern wanted to take control of their own destiny.
The
people in Iran wanted to remove the monarch, the Shah in the year 1953. As this
was happening, the UK and US are furious, since the Shah’s a keen supporter of
their oil interests. American and British spies held a coup to return power to
the throne. Not only Iran, revolution has started in Iraq. King Faisal a
long-time supporter of British interests in the region, enthroned in 1953. This
leads to the rise of a man who will later become America’s arch-enemy, Saddam
Hussein.
The
Middle East takes on a new, independent spirit. Oil-producing states start
working together to protect the value of their oil fields. September 1960, a
new powerful alliance OPEC was established. Its public mission is to stabilize
both oil prices and supply. Whilst in truth, it’s a price-fixing cartel. The
first oil crisis happened in 1973. As the US dollar takes a nosedive, OPEC
feels the pinch. OPEC then embargoes its oil exports to the United States,
Western Europe, and Japan. Oil prices went through the roof.
OPEC
member nations are getting suspicious of one another. Iran and Iraq are about
to collied. The Islamic Revolution in Iran worries Saddam Hussein as he thinks
the revolution may spread to his country. In 1980, Iran and Iraq erupt into a
devastating eight-year war. Desperate to keep the cash coming in, OPEC cuts
production to keep oil prices high, yet oil prices still fall. 1991, Saddam
Hussein’s troops overrun Kuwait. He claims they’re cheating on their oil quotas
and their oil fields actually belong to him. The western allies intervene.
Making it one of the largest invasion forces in history.
Everything
changes on September 11th 2001. Osama bin Laden the mastermind
behind it all is originally from Saudi Arabia. Putting the US in a hard
position, as this country is the biggest oil supplier to the West, punishing
them wouldn’t be a smart move. 2003, US launches air strikes and a ground
invasion. In the aftermath, Saddam is found hiding in a hole in the ground and
3 years later he’s executed. During these wars it’s the people of the Middle
east who suffer most, always facing uncertainty and danger.
In
2008, America’s fracking revolution finally kicks in. What is fracking? And why
does it have such a big impact for the Americans? Fracking is a nickname for
hydraulic fracturing. It involves drilling down into energy-rich shale and
pumping a highly-pressurized mixture of water and chemicals into it. Fracking
could release oil and natural gas from the rock. Ever since the Americans
discovered this method, Fracking has made the United States as the world’s
biggest single oil producer, even out-pacing the nations of the Middle East.
In
[1]
History 101
[2] https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/oil-conflict-and-us-national-interests#:~:text=Oil%20fuels%20international%20conflict%20through,and%20therefore%20makes%20them%20more
[3]
https://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2013/02/oil-war-petro-aggression-revolutionary-governments/
[4] https://energypost.eu/twenty-first-century-energy-wars-oil-gas-fuelling-global-conflicts/
