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Oil Centenary: Oil at 100

Roger Howard, May 2008

The World Today, Volume 64, Number 5

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This month marks the centenary of a truly pivotal moment in the history of the Middle East, and indeed of the wider world. For in the early hours of May 26 1908, at a remote spot in the Persian mountains, a drilling team led by an intrepid British geologist, George Reynolds, suddenly felt the ground rumbling and then watched a stinking black torrent burst through. Amidst exultant shouts, oilhad been discovered in the Middle East and a new era in international relations was born. A century on, can the oil boom continue?