This book combines dramatic narrative, arresting analysis and original research. It assesses BP's comparative performance, and focuses on how BP responded to the rise of new competitors, the decline of Britain's imperial power, and the determination of nation states to assert national sovereignty over oil. Climaxing with the OPEC crisis that shook the world in the 1970s, the book will be of wide interest and relevance, especially for those interested in big business, globalization and nationalism, international affairs, OPEC, the Middle East, and oil.