Basic HTML Version
went into the business. Then John D.
Rockefeller entered the scene and
began to consolidate the oil business
into a one-man monopoly under
his
company, Standard Oil. He was a
hard fighting competitor who put
many rivals out of business, picked
~p
the pieces, and went on to become
the richest man in America. Al–
though Rockefeller's monopoly was
eventually broken up by the U. S.
Supreme Court, his gigantic firm
spawned a number ofmajqr oil com–
panies including Standard Oil of
New Jersey and Standard Oil ofCali–
fornia.
During the succeeding years, com–
panies like Gulf, Mobil, Texaco, and
Shell entered the fiercely competitive
and extremely lucrative business.
Meanwhile, as industry surged ahead
and the automobile and airplane be–
carne integral parts of modern so–
ciety, the need for petroleum and
petroleumderivatives climbed stead–
ily. Oil became the name ofthe game,
the key to industrial success.
The first oil producers in the
Middle East were the Armenians
and Tatars, who one hundred years
ago exploited the reserves lying be–
neath the Caucasus, the western
shores of the Caspian Sea. The great
oi1 fie1ds of Baku, in Azerbaidzhan,
after the dawn of the twentieth cen–
tury, became a Soviet monopoly.
Says Leonard Mosley, "The area
was all but awash with oil. . .. If one
rowed five miles into the Caspian
and threw a tow of .lighted rope
overboard, the sea would catch fire
from the gas bubbling up from the
PLAIN TRUTH February 1974
sea bed." From the 1870's, the oil
rush was in full swing. Leading the
way was a young Swede, Robert
Nobel, who bought a strip of land
for fl ,OOO and, with his three broth–
ers, soon operated the biggest and
most succ.essful field in Baku.
The working conditions in the oi1
industry, in the meantime, were hor–
rifying. Resentment among the Ar–
menians was rife, and revo1ution
was in the air.
"The startling fact is
that world
consumption within
the next twelve years
is now expected to
exceed total world
consumption of oil
throughout history up
to the present time.
"
-
James E. Akins,
Foreign Service Officer
In 1905, a bloody massacre re–
sulted when hundreds of Armenians
were murdered and their women
were carried off into slavery by
rampaging Tatars, later joined by
Cossack troops. The oi1 fields and
storage tanks were sabotaged.
Enter the Americans
At this time, rich fields had been
discovered in California, Texas, and
Oklahoma. However, Americans de-
cided to enter the Middle East in
search of oil after the 1908
di~covery
of oil at Masjid-i-Sulaiman. They
wise1y put their finger on Mes–
opotamia and obtained concessions
from Turkey, which then ru1ed the
region.
British and Dutch interests were
becoming active in the region also.
The Middle East, particularly Tur–
key , was the scene of bribes,
counter-bribes, and under-the-table
·diplomacy as oil tycoons fought
each other for advantages. The ave–
nues to success were via the covert
bribe, knowing the frame ofmind of
the pasha, and knowing the precise
amount of baksheesh to pay each
official in the governmental pecking
order. Arm-twisting, stratagems, se–
cret maneuvers, and nationa1 back–
ing all played their part in the
original opening up of the Middle
Eastern oil fields.
At the close of World War I , with
the demise of the Central Powers -
Germany and Turkey - Britain and
France set about to carve up the
Middle East. The Turkish Petro–
leum Company was now British;
France assumed mandates over
Lebanon and Syria and a quarter of
the oil interest in Iraq.
The United States was excluded
from the secret bargaining, and
when the news leaked out, U. S. oil
companies became furious. Then
ensued a period of plotting, backbit–
ing, lying and deceit. But it didn't
matter. The United States gradually
became the dominant foreign inter–
est in Saudi Arabia, tbrough back-