Oil Titans: National Oil Companies in the Middle East - Tapa dura

"Marcel's path-breaking analysis is particularly adept at showing the great diversity across her sample of NOCs." --Robert Looney, Naval Postgraduate School, Middle East Journal, 9/1/2006 "by far the most detailed account available about Middle Eastern national oil companies...Marcel had remarkable access to senior officials at the companies and the associated government oil ministries." --P. Clawson, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, CHOICE, 11/1/2006 "OIL TITANS is a thorough and readable comparative study of national oil companies... Marcel is to be congratulated for this timely and well-done report from the field." --Mary-Ann Tetreault, Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas) "State-owned oil companies such as Saudi Aramco and National Iranian Oil, not the remnants of the so-called Seven Sisters, control most of the world's reserves and production. These secretive outfits are likely to exert, at least indirectly, a growing influence over how we live. For readers interested in learning how they behave and what motivates them, Oil Titans: National Oil Companies in the Middle East by Valerie Marcel is a good place to start." --Stanley Reed, Business Week, 6/12/2006 "In her recently published book, Oil Titans: National Oil Companies in the Middle East, Dr. Marcel comprehensively examines the challenges facing five regional NOCs as they strive to balance their domestic obligations with their commercial ambitions in a global market place." -- Middle East Economic Survey, 5/29/2006 "A useful handbook for understanding five of the world's most important national oil companies." --Julia Nanay, Middle East Policy, 9/1/2007 "by far the most detailed account available about Middle Eastern national oil companies, specifically those in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Iran, and Algeria. Marcel has remarkable access to senior officials at the companies and the associated government oil ministries." --Patrick Clawson, Middle East Quarterly, 9/1/2007 "This is an informative analysis of these important organizations and their evolving relationships with their government owners." --Richard N. Cooper, Foreign Affairs

The author tells the stories of Saudi Aramco, Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the National Iranian Oil Co., Sonatrach of Algeria, and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. - oil titans which together produce one quarter of the world's oil and hold half of the world's known oil and gas reserves. Dr. Marcel explains the complex bond between each state and its oil company, tracing the relationship's evolution from the politically charged days of foreign concessions to today's world of profit-driven decisionmaking.