Addicted To Oil

Logline

A look at the world’s economic addiction to oil, examining the role that oil has played in conflicts and the creation of corrupt regimes around the globe over the last century.

Synopsis

‘America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world’ George W Bush. All societies are economically dependent on certain elements. This 6 x 52′ documentary series tells the story behind our contemporary addiction. Each episode will use historical examples of economic addictions as counter-point.

USE: The series begins with early global exploitation and conflict, the increase in mass consumption with the First World War and the invention of the motorcar. It will then examine the move into the Middle East and the monopoly of the ‘Seven Sisters’, Big Oil and Fascism and post-colonial moves to control oil in Middle East, Latin America and Africa. The episode also looks at examples of SALT as an economic addiction leading to conflict in Texas in 1877, Bavaria in 1611, France in 1789, and India under British rule.

MISUSE: Oil companies ‘control’ and ‘influence’ oil-producing countries through quasi-colonial relationships. America deals with the Saudis. Massive post-war increase in consumption necessitates cheap oil. Issues of oil drive the Cold War, exacerbate problems in Israel and Egypt and fuel Arab Nationalism. Oil interests back ‘stable’ regimes, support the coup d’etat in Iran and help put Saddam into power in Iraq. This chapter looks at the SPICE trade and subsequent 16^th century wars as counter-point.

ABUSE: OPEC threatens to take control away from the oil interests. Arms and oil money flood into oil producing regions. Oil wars escalate in Nigeria, Sudan and Angola. The US backs Mobutu, the Soviets invade Afghanistan and Saddam invades Iran, all to gain access to oil reserves. The Iran Contra scandal seeks to arm Iran to defend its oil fields from the Soviets. The European and American SLAVE TRADES provide a fascinating incite into similar economic dependencies.

DEPENDENCY/ADDICTION: Africa’s First World War begins as neighbours attack the Congo for oil. The first Gulf War devastates the region. Iraqi’s suffer through the ‘oil-for-food’ scandal. America’s ‘war on drugs’ protects its oil interests in Latin America. Unocal, Shell, Elf Oil, Mobil and Texaco violate human rights and damage the environment of numerous Third World countries. This conflict is reflected in the global DRUG TRADE, a definite economic dependency with massive negative consequences for Colombia and Afghanistan.

ACCEPTANCE: The ‘war on terror’ gives American oil interests a blank cheque. The war in Afghanistan may open up massive oil fields in the Caspian. The second Gulf War begins the process of securing Iraqi oil. US and Chinese ‘Aid’ to African oil producing regions escalates. The US presence in Central Asia grows. Africans remain poor. Third World SWEATSHOPS highlight similar global problems.

RECOVERY: ‘Peakoil’ and the end of cheap oil. Western policy continues to de-stabilise the Middle East while breeding corruption and exploitation in Africa. The only real Western policy to date has been to find more oil. This episode reveals how some of the above dependencies eventually petered out, hinting at how our particular dependency may evolve over the next millennium.

The Irish economy would not exist as it does today without the global oil industry, and energy policy remains one of the most pressing issues facing the nation today. Our dependency ensures that we are implicated in every plot and every conspiracy involving the global oil industry. As such, there is a huge demand for the truth behind the role oil companies have in global politics. This series will reveal the story entire, highlighting how evolutionary and circumstantial such dependencies are. None have been more damaging than oil, yet our finite resources and growing demand can only lead to future conflict as global desperation sets in.