Oil on Water: Tankers, Pirates and the Rise of China

by Paul French, Sam Chambers

Out of sight, out of mind. That's the general reaction to the crucial movement of oil around the world's oceans. Yet this vital supply chain that allows the world to function is constantly under enormous, largely unreported pressure. The uninterrupted flow of oil is essential to globalisation, and increasingly so as manufacturing and markets move Eastwards to Asia. However, it is threatened by conflicts between nation states, pirates and global warming.

All too often the movement of oil by ocean is something taken for granted by the majority of the world yet it is fraught with difficulty, and could haemorrhage global growth if issues covered in this book are not resolved or allowed to escalate.

From reporting onboard giant tankers to looking at the geopolitical shift in oil consumption, Oil on Water is holistic, all encompassing and engrossing look at the way oil is moved and consumed; mixing reportage, examples and hard-hitting facts.

Genres: China

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 13, 2010

About the author

PAUL FRENCH was born in London and lived and worked in Shanghai for many years. His book Midnight in Pekingwas a New York Times bestseller and a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. He received the Mystery Writers’ of America Edgar award for Best Fact Crime and a Crime Writers’ Association (UK) Dagger award for non-fiction. His book City of Devils: A Shanghai Noir received much praise with The Economist writing, ‘…in Mr French the city has its champion storyteller.’ Both Midnight in Peking and City of Devils are currently in development for film.

Reviews

[Mick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A point made early on in this book is that even though oil, and its everyday movement across the surface of the world, are fundamental to the world's industry and therefore effect us all, the general public are almost entirely unaware of what happens between the oil wells and the service station where they fill up their cars. The only time we tend to think of oil tankers is when one runs aground or is hijacked by pirates.

French and Chambers aim to correct this lack of understanding and appreciation with a plain language introduction to the business of global oil movement, the challenges facing it, and a discussion of its future. Topics range from environmental disaster and increasing global energy demands to piracy, the rise of China, and the looming employment crisis in the shipping industry. This is coupled with a bit of a boys own adventure/travelogue, as the authors recount their own experience of having travelled on a VLCC. The short length and easy to read style make this an excellent introductory text.

Personally, I found that reading this slim book has added massively to my (limited) understanding of energy geopolitics, petrobusiness, and the importance of global shipping. I'd definitely recommend it to any international relations, security studies or economics students or people interested in these topics or who just want to understand the world a bit more.

[!Tæmbuŝu]

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