The emergence of the international oil corporation as a political actor in the twentieth century, seen in BP's infrastructure and information arrangements in Iran. In the early twentieth century, international oil corporations emerged as a new kind of political actor. The development of the world oil industry, argues Katayoun Shafiee, was one of the era's largest political projects of techno-economic development. In this book, Shafiee maps the machinery of oil operations in the Anglo-Iranian oil industry between 1901 and 1954, tracking the organizational work involved in moving oil through a variety of technical, legal, scientific, and administrative networks. She shows that, in a series of disagreements, the British-controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC, which later became BP) relied on various forms of information management to transform political disputes into techno-economic calculation, guaranteeing the company complete control over profits, labor, and production regimes. She argues that the building of alliances and connections that constituted Anglo-Iranian oil's infrastructure reconfigured local politics of oil regions and examines how these arrangements in turn shaped the emergence of both nation-state and transnational oil corporation. Drawing on her extensive archival and field research in Iran, Shafiee investigates the surprising ways in which nature, technology, and politics came together in battles over mineral rights; standardizing petroleum expertise; formulas for calculating profits, production rates, and labor; the “Persianization” of employees; nationalism and oil nationalization; and the long-distance machinery of an international corporation. Her account shows that the politics of oil cannot be understood in isolation from its technical dimensions. The open access edition of this book was made possible by generous funding from Knowledge Unlatched.

This book critically examines different forms of petroleum contracts, the historical perspective of the oil and gas industry and the political economy of the petroleum development in Iran. In doing this, the author provides analysis of the concept of concession in oil and gas development. This is discussed through the main forms of concession contracts; namely, the classic concession contract (CCC) and the new concession contract (NCC). The book ties together much of the existing work on the history of oil and gas regulation in Iran and builds on that foundation to propose a coherent and balanced approach within the framework of the NCC. To consider the role of the NCC in developing national upstream oil and gas industry, comparative examples are drawn from countries currently using, or having previously used, NCC oil and gas contracts. The selected developed and developing countries are Brazil, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Australia and Norway. The analysis considers the extent to which the NCC has served to advance the objectives and national interests of the national governments in this industry. The book involves a comparative exploration of the utilisation of NCCs in other jurisdictions and synthesises a framework through which Iran may develop its underutilised oil and gas resources. Of interest to academics, students and practitioners throughout the world, this book focuses on the relevant aspects of Iran's Constitution and natural resource laws and makes recommendations for law reform to Iran's legal frameworks.

Explores how oil companies, Western development NGOs, the US government, and Iranian technocrats turned Iran into the first 'petro-state'.

This work deals with the oil crises of the 1950s, precipitated by Iran's decision to nationalise the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The roots of the revolt against British imperialism are explored here, along with the long-term consequences of instability in the Middle East.

This book critically examines different forms of petroleum contracts, the historical perspective of the oil and gas industry and the political economy of the petroleum development in Iran. In doing this, the author provides analysis of the concept of concession in oil and gas development. This is discussed through the main forms of concession contracts; namely, the classic concession contract (CCC) and the new concession contract (NCC). The book ties together much of the existing work on the history of oil and gas regulation in Iran and builds on that foundation to propose a coherent and balanced approach within the framework of the NCC. To consider the role of the NCC in developing national upstream oil and gas industry, comparative examples are drawn from countries currently using, or having previously used, NCC oil and gas contracts. The selected developed and developing countries are Brazil, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Australia and Norway. The analysis considers the extent to which the NCC has served to advance the objectives and national interests of the national governments in this industry. The book involves a comparative exploration of the utilisation of NCCs in other jurisdictions and synthesises a framework through which Iran may develop its underutilised oil and gas resources. Of interest to academics, students and practitioners throughout the world, this book focuses on the relevant aspects of Iran’s Constitution and natural resource laws and makes recommendations for law reform to Iran’s legal frameworks.