Queen of the Oil Club: The Intrepid Wanda Jablonski and the Power of Information

by Anna Rubino, Daniel Yergin (Foreword)

This is the story of a gutsy journalist who challenged power-and succeeded. Wanda Jablonski was an investigative reporter, publisher, and power broker who came to wield exceptional influence on twentieth-century geopolitics by shedding light on the secretive world of oil from the 1950s through the 1980s. Jablonski unveiled many mysteries of the oil club, an elite group of Western executives who once controlled the international petroleum business.

Nicknamed the midwife of OPEC, Jablonski undermined Big Oil's dominance by exposing the vulnerabilities of the major oil companies and encouraging the rise of oil nationalism. Her scoops, commentaries, and private networking helped shape the debate that led to the creation of OPEC, the oil shocks of the 1970s, and the largest transfer of wealth in history.

Tenacious and glamorous, Wanda-as she was known in the oil world-coaxed her way into exploration sites in Middle Eastern deserts, drilling camps in the Venezuelan jungle, male-only boardrooms in New York and London, and the king's harem in Saudi Arabia. She survived threats, boycotts, and suspicions of espionage as she elicited information and insight from CEOs of the oil giants and political leaders, including the shah of Iran.

Working for the Journal of Commerce and other New York publications, Jablonski defied the prevailing view that a woman reporting on business had no credibility. In 1961, divorced and suddenly jobless, she took a big gamble by starting her own newsletter, Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, which was soon dubbed the "bible" of the oil world.

Today, when conflict in the Middle East and climate change cause us to reexamine our reliance on oil, Jablonski's prescience-whether about oil dependency, cultural insensitivity, or market manipulation-proves remarkable.

Anna Rubino, who reported for Jablonski in the 1980s, uses scores of interviews, exclusive access to her private papers, and newly declassified information to tell the dramatic story of this journalistic pioneer and the power of information.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics

360 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2008

Reviews

[Emi Yoshida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanda Jablonski was an amazing journalist and entrepreneur, singularly gifted with the skills and mindset necessary to create and publish the world's leading source of information relating to the nascent and dynamic global oil industry. Her stellar career and the hectic pace of her travels were amazing to read about, but I wish there'd been more details about her fascinatingly anti-social tendencies, and more depth to what stories there were about her relationships and ex-friendships etc. Wanda was famous for her ability to breathe life into her descriptions of worlds only dreamed of by most Americans (deserts, harems, the Middle East, Africa and South America), I loved reading those excerpts; so wish she'd written her own memoir.

[Johanna]

Saw this author on CSPAN tonight--you know there's not much on network stations and cable when you land on CSPAN and decide to watch. If this book is as good as the author is a likeable storyteller, then I might enjoy this.

[Do · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating tale of a woman who was way ahead of her time, reporting in what was considered a man's world. When she started she had to use her initials to disguise the fact that she was a woman. Also an interesting view of the history of the oil industry and the formation of OPEC.

[Lauren]

I'm really enjoying it so far!

[Larry Schwartz]

Had to give it up before I finished 'cause it was due back at the library from whence it came. It was interesting enough up to then to make me want to get it again.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

mostly skimmed; not very insightful