Fall 2009

MES 322K • THE POLITICS OF OIL

Course Description

Students will work in teams focusing their research on particular companies or countries engaged in the international petroleum industry. While the lectures will tend to focus on the Arab oil-producing countries (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar - see www.pogar.org for country profiles) and Iran, some students will be encouraged to examine other oil producers such as the USSR, USA, Venezuela, and Mexico, and also to study the strategies of the multinational companies (Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, British Petroleum, Shell, etc.) and some of the newer companies founded by the oil exporters (including the Kuwait Petroleum Company!). The student teams will be expected to write role profiles and annotated bibliographies and then to prepare reports and to present their findings in class.

Grading Policy

Midterm 20%; Paper topic proposal (300-500 words) 5%; Annotated bibliography (at least 5 items per team member) 10%; Research Input to Blackboard 10%; Writing drafts to Blackboard 10%; Final Report (2000 words) 15%; Final in-class quiz; 15%; Class attendance, Blackboard "chat" and quizzes 15%

Texts

Abel's course packet; The Choice (Perseus, 2004) pb for $12 at amazon.com; Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy; Oil Titans: National Oil Companies in the Middle East; The Prize, Simon and Schuster, 1991.

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