The color of oil : the history, the money, and the politics of the world's biggest business / Michael Economides, Ronald Oligney ; original artwork by Armando Izquierdo.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-182) and index.

part I. Green: The money, wealth and economics of oil -- part II. Black: The substance of oil and the physics of finding and producing it -- part III. Red, White and Blue: Origins of the most American industry and the ghost of Rockefeller -- part IV. Red: War, colonialism and the access to oil -- part V. Primary Colors: Money, people and technology -- part VI. Colors of the Rainbow: The dominance of culture in the world of oil -- part VII. Yellow: The constructive and destructive roles of government -- part VIII. New Green: The politics of environmentalism and oil -- part IX. Purple: An industry for the third millennium.

The primary colors of oil today are money (lots of it), technology (basic but demanding) and people (special ones). The colors of the rainbow can be seen in the 100+ oil producing countries. There are a dozen large petroleum producing and exporting countries. Yet most have little in their history that links them to wealth, technology and management. Corruption among the elite and governments, mismanagement and the squandering of the petroleum wealth are endemic. Culture is everything, and no other human endeavor makes this as pointedly obvious as the world of petroleum.