This dissertation analyzes the historical process that culminated in the 1972 nationalization of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) -- a consortium that included four of the world's largest and most powerful corporations. I draw on IPC archives, recently declassified U.S. Government documents, and the Arab press to trace the impact of Iraq's 1958 "Free Officers' Revolution" on IPC interests in Iraq. I show that the Revolution set in motion a process of institutional development that resulted in the complete nationalization of the Iraqi oil industry at a relatively early date, and I emphasize the agency of a particular group of Western-trained Iraqi technical experts in producing this outcome. Moreover, I examine U.S and IPC efforts to counter Iraq's radical movements and offer an original interpretation of the relationship between the American government and the international oil industry. I show that the Iraqi challenge to the IPC undermined the stability of an implicit "corporatist bargain" between the U.S. State Department and the major American oil companies, and that the breakdown of this relationship was part of a larger crisis of American hegemony in the early 1970s. In so doing, I reveal powerful underlying factors that continue to drive the historical encounter between the U.S. and the Middle East.

The energy industry is a key source of growth stimulation for developing states. Understandably, developing states are eager to enter into petroleum investment contracts with international investors, with the expectation that this will benefit their countries. The domestic law of some developing states provides a welcoming investment environment in the form of guarantees and stability, while other states provide these opportunities by agreeing to investment contracts or treaties drafted by international organisations established to facilitate such agreements. This book identifies the political risks, particularly of indirect expropriation, that arise from the unilateral actions of host governments during the lifespan of energy investment projects. Focusing on stabilisation clauses as a political risk management tool, this research-based study draws on comparative empirical evidence from Turkey and Azerbaijan to determine what influences host states to consent to the insertion of stabilisation clauses in long-term host government agreements. Proposing a framework for the role to be played by both internal forces and external forces, it examines political regimes and state guarantees to foreign investors in Azerbaijan and Turkey from a comparative perspective, assessing how effective internal factors in Azerbaijan and Turkey are in facilitating contractual stability in their energy investment projects. Providing a comprehensive analysis of stabilisation clauses and the internal and external factors that compel host states to commit to them, this book will appeal to practitioners, students and scholars in international investment law and energy law.

The Community of Oil Exporting Countries (1972) looks at the oil producing countries of the developing world and their economic reliance on oil. This reliance comes with an unwillingness to leave their economic fate to the vagaries of competition, leading to co-operative schemes that protect them from trade receipt fluctuations. This book is a close reading of the situation, and the resulting co-operative efforts.

The environmental, the economic - and indeed the political - impact of the catastrophic 2010 blowout of BP's well in the Gulf of Mexico has highlighted the central part played by oil in the modern world. The fate of millions now depends on the ever-shifting value of petroleum and on the fortunes of the corporations that deliver it. The story of oil - how it came to play such a dominant role in the world economy, who controls its extraction, pricing and supply - is essential to an understanding of contemporary world politics. In this acclaimed book, Francisco Parra draws on his long experience in the oil world, including as the Secretary General of OPEC, to tell it. Oil Politics surveys the tumultuous history of the international petroleum industry, from its extraordinary growth between 1950 and 1979, presided over by the seven major oil companies, to the price revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, to the re-emergence of Russia as an important but uncertain supplier. Parra charts the changing power dynamics amongst the major oil suppliers and examines their relationships with the major oil importing countries, and how these concerns have impacted on foreign policy. Oil politics in the twenty-first century remain fraught with tensions, and this book offers a uniquely accessible guide to understanding this complex but vitally important subject. "Francisco Parra's long service in the oil industry and his rare intellectual capabilities make him an authority on this subject. [His] book is a must." - Dr F J Chalabi, Executive Director, Centre for Global Energy Studies. "Few in the industry can match the variety of Parra's experience. This is a world-class book and a must for all those interested in international oil policies and politics, and a good read as well." - Nordine Ait-Laoussine, former Algerian Minister of Oil "This is a splendid volume: erudite; lucid; forthright; full of insight; and a rollicking good read, to boot...Frank Parra has written a tour-de-force, a thinking man's 'Prize'" - International Atomic Energy Agency Journal