The Seven Sisters: The great oil companies & the world they shaped

by Anthony Sampson

Book Overview

Exxon, Gulf, Texaco, Mobil, Socal, BP, and Shell: five huge American companies, one British company, and one Anglo-Dutch concern dominated the world of oil for most of the century following the first... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067063591X
• ISBN13: 9780670635917
• Release Date: October 1975
• Publisher: Viking
• Length: 334 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A classic on the history of the big oil companies.

I don't see how this book ever went out of print except that oil companies bought up all the media companies. This book belongs on the bookshelf next to the Rockefeller bio "Thy Will Be Done" and Ida Tarbell's classic "The History of the Standard Oil Company".

Simply thes best hisotry of the Oil Industry ever written; of timely importance even today

Forget the more famous "history" of the oil industry "the Prize" this book is the actual history and it remains as relevant in modern times (I write this in 2008 months after the Russia/Georgia conflict and as the global financial crisis unfolds) as it was when first written in the mid-1970s, another period of great turmoil in world energy prices and global economic upheaval. Ask anyone who lived through the oil industry in the past two to three decades if this is an accurate, let alone well written book they will answer in the affirmative. You will not get that universal endorsement of other accounts. What makes the big difference is that Sampson took the trouble to get inside the story and meet and understand what made the great oil leaders tick, why governments did what they did and what the geopolitical implications were. If you want to know what really happened in the great battles and achievements of the past and get a strong insight into our own times of resource nationalism and rise and rise of national oil companies, you need to include this perspective in your reading (and re-reading).

Best book I have seen on the subject

Having long been interested in the Oil Industry, one day I sat down and read "The Prize" by Daniel Yergen. It struck me as nothing more than PR for the Oil Industry, and to this day I wonder if Cambridge Energy Research Associates is nothing more than a PR firm posing as a research outfit - funded by the oil companies to provide the media "research" about the oil industry which always happens to correspond with what the oil industry wants people to believe. Some years later I stumbled across The Seven Sisters in a university library and just loved it - it pulled back the curtain and revealed to me how the oil industry really works. The story of how a consortium of American and British oil companies controlled the supply (and thus the price) of oil for decades - and how power slowly shifted to national governments who had for years owned most of the world's oil but had had to stand by and watch the Seven Sisters reap virtually all of the profits. While my review perhaps reveals some bias on my part - I think this book is extremely even handed and fair. I recommend it most highly.

Price fluctuations have a small affect on the demand for oil

Rockerfeller realized to dominate the oil industry, money needed to be focused on refining and distributing. The secondly Rockerfeller capitalized on connecting oil and railroads. Atlantic and Western became the chief carriers of oil. Rockerfeller forced the rail roads to give cheaper rates and allowed increased profits. Rockerfeller's joint stock in Standard Oil company which he bought for $1 million gave him 27% ownership; Standard Oil represented 1/10 of all the oil in the US. Price fluctuations have a small affect on the demand for oil. Consumers depend on oil as the source of energy for heating, transportation, and industry and oil has not substantial competing energy substitutes, therefore, demand remains constant. Big companies with huge concessions continue to produce at uneconomical prices, to keep their refineries going at any price. The industry fails to self-adjust. The big companies claim self adjustment because, the greater the output the higher the costs of additional output. OPEC created a secondary government and it is immune from taxes. Rockerfeller believed he was serving as a divine servant, imposing order among chaos; as the first captain of industry, he was confident that his leadership and vision were building the modern America. However, the individual felt threatened by the morality of the new industrial morality. Exxon, Mobil, and Socal from were called the Standard Oil group and sold their oil at the same price. 1911, Exxon acted as the holding company for the group; it was the biggest oil company in the world; it served as the banker for the other sisters providing funds for exploration and development; it had money and markets but very little oil. Oil was bought cheaply from Russia and Venezuela and resold to America markets. 1925, Mobil based out of NY had huge markets and sold its oil to England and the Far East. 1895, SOCAL based out of California exported oil across the pacific to China; in 1919 SOCAL provided 26% of the US oil production; it had plenty of oil by not enough markets. In 1901, Anthony Lucas hit the largest oil field in the world, in Pittsburg. James Guffey invested $1 million and setup pipelines running from the oil field to the Altantic Gulf which was exported to the world. Control of financing, for $15 million, too become profitable, was arranged by William Mellon, who became VP of Gulf. Guffey was ousteaded. Texaco made good profits by buying cheap Spindletop oil and selling it to sugar planters and Standard in the East; by 1904, Lake sour produced 5% of the US oil. Texaco established nation wide organization. Shell was founded by Marcus Samuel. Samuel perceived the crucial importance of economies was in the transportation of the oil and so he looked for the closest supply to meet local demands. Samuel established a strong base in Japan where he shipped coal then oil to Japan. When oil was discovered in Russia, Samuel received financing to develop and purchase the oil from the French

Excellent primer, but now a little outdated

This is an excellent primer on the OIL industry. I highly recommend for anyone interested in the history of 20th century Industry and World Politics.This book will help any reader better understand recent Middle East events, as it provides details of the many decisions and actions that have led to the current situations. By providing the historic details and backdrop of the Oil Industry, a reader can gain better context for current actions, tensions and misunderstandings.It's too bad this book has not been updated. My paperback edition ends with the Carter Administration.

History of Oil

This book tracks the development of the major oil companies of the 20th century and their efforts to ensure adequate supplies, pacify oil producing governments, all the while turning a profit. The behind-the-scenes story of the turbulent oil business will fascinate anyone who lived through the oil crisis of the 1970's. Get ready for higher gas prices this summer!