Untapped : the scramble for Africa's oil / John Ghazvinian.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ghazvinian, John, 1974-

Series:

Harvest book

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Petroleum industry and trade--Africa.

Petroleum industry and trade.

Petroleum--Africa.

Petroleum.

Africa.

Physical Description:

xvii, 324 pages : map ; 21 cm.

Edition:

First Harvest edition.

Place of Publication:

Orlando : Harvest, [2008]

Summary:

Although Africa has long been known to be rich in oil, extracting it hadn't seemed worth the effort and risk until recently. But with the price of Middle Eastern crude oil skyrocketing and advancing technology making reserves easier to tap, the region has become the scene of a competition between major powers that recalls the nineteenth-century scramble for colonization there. But what does this giddy new oil boom mean--for America, for the world, for Africans themselves? John Ghazvinian traveled through twelve African countries--from Sudan to Congo to Angola--talking to warlords, industry executives, bandits, activists, priests, missionaries, oil-rig workers, scientists, and ordinary people whose lives have been transformed--not necessarily for the better--by the riches beneath their feet. The result is a high-octane narrative that reveals the challenges, obstacles, reasons for despair, and reasons for hope emerging from the world's newest energy hot spot.

Contents:

The onshore effect

The offshore illusion

"A country in Africa"

Instant emirates

Paradise found?

The place where people wait

The Chinese are coming! ... but who isn't?

Notes:

Maps on lining papers.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-309) and index.

ISBN:

0156033720

9780156033725

OCLC:

216829935