2000/07/01 by Nathan J. Citino · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts #Islamic Studies and History #Natural Resources and Economic Development
paper · doi:10.1080/09592290008406160
openalex publication_date 2000/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
During the early Cold War, Britain and the US fashioned a set of arrangements described collectively in this article as the ‘postwar petroleum order’, which appropriated Persian Gulf oil to fuel European reconstruction and defence. When Saudi Arabia organized a state oil‐tanker company with Aristotle Onassis in 1954, it challenged the terms of those arrangements. The affair provides a case study in contrasting British and American approaches towards oil diplomacy and Arab nationalism. Whereas London crusaded for an Anglo‐American campaign to abolish the Saudi‐Onassis company, Washington wanted the Arabian‐American Oil Company to accomplish the same objective by providing financial incentives to King Sa'ud's government.