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Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Stephen J. Randall. United States Foreign Oil Policy Since World War I: For Profits and Security, Second Edition. McGill - Queen's University Press, 2005.
Thomas Walde, University of Dundee
Abstract
Security of oil and (now also, in particular for Europe and perhaps also Asian countries) gas supplies is again high on the policy agenda. It, naturally, lies dormant in periods of low prices, thus oversupply and weak bargaining power of producers, but it raises its head in situations of war, insecurity and high oil (and gas/energy) prices (with the bargaining advantage with producers and even more so the sovereign owners of reserves). It is comforting to read that the United States had been worried over lack of security and diversification of supplies, impending depletion of oil, insecurity, and foreign and domestic politics in producing countries for at least a century. Is the situation now different? Arguably it is: US import dependence and depletion of US oil wells is higher than ever before and "safe countries" in the Western hemisphere, such as in particular Venezuela, do not look as safe any longer. In the core period covered by this book, 1919 to 1945, the US was substantially self-sufficient in oil and coal was more important to the US in that time than it is now...