Oil pricing and the challenge of an Arab oil trans-nationalism: Abdallah al-Tariqi and Arab oil globalization

Résumé 0

Economics was a major field of struggle for anti-imperialist oil experts and activists. Building on recent scholarship on oil anti-colonialism, this article argues that exploring the economic dimension of the struggle for sovereignty not only adds to our understanding of political and social movements, but also illuminates the ways in which anti-imperialist oil experts and activists have envisioned economic globalization and its challenges, as well as material struggles over oil in developing countries during the 1960s and early 1970s. “Petro-knowledge” was not limited to elite gatherings and political debates. This article provides insight into the circulation of “petro-knowledge” and its diverging echoes beyond elite networks by exploring hitherto neglected aspects of ‘Abdallah al-Tariqi’s transnational career prior to the 1973 oil shock. It sheds light on the way in which this expertise was used during the 1960s. By emphasizing the economic aspects of this knowledge and exploring the ways it has been popularized and championed, the article aims to reevaluate the development of anti-colonial oil strategies and their impact, without solely focusing on their political contents and on the 1973 oil crisis as a pivotal moment.