Table Of ContentThe Brotherhood of Oil
The Brotherhood
o f O il
Energy Policy and the Public Interest
Robert Engler
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
Robert Engler is the author of The Politics of Oil (1961). He is professor
of political science at the City University of New York.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd.. London
© 1977 by Robert Engler
All rights reserved. Published 1977
Printed in the United States of America
81 80 79 78 77 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Engler, Robert.
The brotherhood of oil.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Petroleum industry and trade—United States.
2. Energy policy—United States. I. Title.
HD9566.E58 338.2’7’2820973 76-56189
ISBN 0-226-20948-2
For Leland Olds, Robert S. Lynd
and Roderick Seidenberg
Three who cared
After the rising of the 17th June
The Secretary of the Writers’ Association
Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
In which you could read that the people
Had lost the Government’s confidence
And could only win it back
By redoubled efforts. If so, would it not
Be simpler for the Government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?
Bertolt Brecht
“The Solution”
Contents
Preface ix
1 Crude Awakenings 1
2 Traces of Oil 16
3 Political Explorations 57
4 The Rites of Government 84
5 Imperial Energies 98
6 Partners in Development 146
7 Bureaucratic Wastelands 177
8 Planning for New Beginnings 209
Notes 251
Index 323
Preface
This is a study of the political economy of oil and of the challenge
it poses for the American political system. The title has, in the
mind of the author, two meanings. At one level, The Brotherhood
of Oil refers to the network of organizations, primarily private but
recently joined by public ones, which function wherever petroleum
is sought, found, and used. Much of the study deals with power:
the economic power over production, markets, and prices wielded
by the merchants of oil, and the political power that flows from
such control. The central focus here is upon the giant corporations
and their relation to public government and to social forces, pri
marily in the United States, which are also involved or seek in
volvement in the shaping of basic energy policies.
At the second level, the title is intended to convey the interde
pendence of people everywhere whose lives have been caught up
in the quest for oil. For many its presence is a condition of nature
and petroleum thus far plays a minor role in meeting their own
daily needs. Yet this presence links their fates with those for whose
mechanized economies oil is the lifeblood. A cutoff from their con
nection would be, in the words of one State Department official,
“the most total challenge that could be launched . . ., something
very close to nuclear warfare.” The underlying concern at this level
is the replacement of policies now responsive to the “bottom line”
of corporate statements and the might of favored nations with
planning which acknowledges the fraternity of all mankind and
encourages directions which are economically just, ecologically
sane and politically accountable.
IX
X Preface
The present book follows from The Politics of Oil (New York:
Macmillan, 1961 ),* which had its origin in my interest in the prob
lem of power. The fifteen years since the latter’s publication saw
the nation move from celebration of what was to be “the American
century” to intense examination of the social costs of development.
There was angry opposition to armaments, the Vietnam war, dis
crimination, poverty, urban decay, the shoddiness of goods and the
degradation of the environment. The irresponsibility of authority in
every institution became a target. A rebirth of populism brought
questioning about the corporation and the business system and
ultimately about technology and growth. The oil industry and its
global operations became increasingly visible.
It was the “energy crisis” of 1973-74 which catapulted the sep
arate aspects of oil policy to the center of public attention. Using
this national educational experience as a case study, the book looks
backward to trace the efforts of the industry to tie up energy re
sources at home and abroad. The oil dimensions of foreign policy,
from involvement in Asia to the blockade against Cuba, are dis
cussed, as is the permeation of every level of the body politic,
from Watergate to the boundaries of policy options for the nation.
Research for the earlier work involved unearthing relatively ob
scure documents, interviewing corporate and public bureaucrats,
seeking out isolated public servants across the country who were
trying to preserve what they saw as the public interest. Today the
scholar is inundated by materials on oil policy and politics. The
challenge this time was one of winnowing and interpreting rather
than searching out and organizing basic facts about oil.
But I was eager to see who had learned what from the earlier
experiences with oil and what were the outcomes of previous
struggles over offshore oil, shale, and natural gas. I wanted to
appraise such counterforces as the environmental movement and
awakened nationalism. To what extent are they effective in chal
lenging the “first world government” by introducing standards of
responsibility other than those of this private government of oil?
* Reissued in 1967 by the University of Chicago Press as a Phoenix
paperback.
