"Middle East Petroleum: Arabian Nights Come Alive" by Brij Khar

Book Preview & Review

(Also posted at www.vicharkutir.blogspot.com)
Published by:
Brij M. Khar, For ‘Vichar Publications’, 26-Pleasant Valley, Rajpur, Dehradun-248009, India
Copyrights © reserved with the author ‘Brij Khar’
Edition: 2008
Price: INR 250/-; US$ 10/-
Printed at: Saraswati Press, 2- Green Park, Dehradun-248001, India
Distributors:
NATRAJ Publishers, 17-Rajpur Road, Dehradun-248001, India, email:natrajbooks@vsnl.com;
natrajbooks@gmail.com, Ph: 91-135-2653382/ 2654584, Fax : 91-135-2749914/2749560
Preview
Middle East Petroleum: Arabian Nights come Alive
-Essaying facts, fiction and fantasy to underscore the interests and machinations of various
players in inflating the oil prices –
A must read for:
· Hard hit consumer’s World over
· Beneficiaries of current boom time
· Everyone in the Oil & Gas Industry

Contents
Prologue
Chapter
1. The ‘Jinni’ from ‘Arabian Nights’
2. ‘Sim-Sim’ and ‘Morgiana’
3. Golden Glitter and the Black Gold
4. The Gluttonous ‘Uncle Sam’
5. Tigris Tiger on Prowl
6. Mercantile of York
7. Exporters, Importers and Imposters
8. Beyond Petroleum
Epilogue

Prologue
Exactly a century ago, when oil gushed on 26th May 1908 from the Masjid-i-Suleiman
discovery well (of the then British operated Anglo-Iranian Oil company) in south Persia, no
one had any idea of the Middle East’s then unknown crude oil & natural gas potential, let
alone the foresight to predict that this region would in course of time, emerge as the world’s
largest provider of the most efficient natural energy resource, critical for growth and
sustenance of the global economy particularly in developed and developing countries.

As a petroleum province, endowed with excellent petroleum generation-migration-

entrapment cycle conditions in geological time (well researched and documented), the Middle
East today has the unique distinction of holding more than half of the world’s proved oil & gas
reserves (Oil: 61 %; Gas: 41.3% ; British Petroleum -BP- Statistical Review of World Energy
June 2008).

Many pundits and pedestrians alike (including some in the petroleum industry) would have us
believe that “Oil is where ‘Allah’ is”. While that in sheer petroleum statistics terms and
individual or collective faith may or may not be true, it is essential to recall that Allah is
everywhere and so are his subjects in our world, but the petroleum habitat isn’t so.

Notwithstanding the unprecedented quickening pace of scientific discoveries and

technological innovations and breakthroughs witnessed since World War I, a viable alternative
to oil & gas as an efficient energy resource doesn’t seem to be round the corner. With current
crude oil prices hovering well above US$ 100/- per barrel, almost five times of what they
were for nearly two decades, following the collapse of oil prices in 1986, the economies of
both developed and developing nations continue to be caught in the quagmire of escalating
demand, curtailed supply and inflated prices that are driven not so much by current or
emerging demand-supply scenarios and economics of petroleum exploration & production (oil
prices around US$ 50/- per barrel on-land or offshore in general, still being a sound
commercial proposition), but more by speculators/beneficiaries /cartels and politics of the
Middle East and Western World.

It is interesting to recall that centuries before oil was discovered in Middle East, fortuitous
acquisition of windfall bonanza, wealth and prosperity formed the key aspect of folklore and
storytelling as vividly described in the famous tales of Arabian Nights, where the mythological
Jinni performs miraculous acts of wealth creation to what have you in a matter of seconds.
While this arguably and truly is indeed a figment of an imaginative and intelligent mind, it is
striking that many parts of Middle East today look like the pages from these fairy tales in
terms of wealth and splendour, unlike what they were for centuries before oil & gas
discoveries. The fact that this wealth and prosperity, primarily from oil & gas resources, have
come with lesser effort in relative comparison to other developed or developing regions of
the world, makes it all the more striking and tempting to fantasise the fabulous Middle East
crude oil & natural gas resources and attendant riches, particularly at the current inflated
prices as a handiwork of Jinni from Arabian Nights.

This book while amusingly fantasying the return of Jinni and coming alive of Arabian Nights
fable, underscores the interests and machinations of various players (real or perceived) in
pushing current petroleum prices beyond the pale of crystal gazers and proselytises, those
involved directly or indirectly in inflating the oil prices. It is also an attempt by the author as
someone from the petroleum industry, to highlight the undercurrents that loom large like a
Sword of Damocles on the heads of many net oil-importing countries particularly from the
developing world, in as much as it strikes at the very fundamentals and foundations of their
painstaking and steady march to an all round growth, prosperity and peace.

Reviews
LL Bhandari wrote:
"......I was fascinated to read this book beginning with Jinni from Arabian Nights and
intricately weaving the story with five 'D's of petroleum- Discover, Define, Develop, Deplete
and Divest. You brought in beautifully the entire gambit of habitat of oil, its discovery,
reserves distribution, global consumption pattern, peaking of oil, reserve to production ratio,
marketing at NYMEX and even Middle East culture with poetry thrown in here and there.
You did not forget your first love - Himalayas and its petroleum source potential, may be one
day we will discover another oil province.
You are indeed a gifted writer....."