Crude Oil, Crude Money: Aristotle Onassis, Saudi Arabia, and the CIA.

9781440863943

Crude Oil, Crude Money: Aristotle Onassis, Saudi Arabia, and the CIA

Thomas W. Lippman

Praeger

2019

266 pages

$37.00

Hardcover

HD9576

Lippman, an author and journalist, tells the story of how Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, and Texaco worked with the CIA and Department of State to thwart the plans of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, as he tried to corner the crude oil shipping market by signing a deal with the king of Saudi Arabia that would give his ships the right to transport almost all of the oil exported from the kingdom. The author describes the involvement of Onassis and his friends in business and politics; King Saud bin Abdul Aziz and his ministers; the major US oil companies that controlled the Saudi oilfields; the operators of shipping fleets; and the administration of President Eisenhower, which saw the deal as a challenge to the global economic and security order and an expansion of Soviet influence. (Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR)