The Prize: An Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power

The first wells and entrepreneurs are the foundation on which the enormous oil industry will be built.

Standard Oil, through the ruthlessness of Rockefeller, became a far reaching and monopolistic empire of oil

The introduction of the internal combustion engine and the expansion of roads across the country led to more demand on oil supply

Oil becomes a strategic resource in the Second World War, starting with a US embargo that cut off Japanese oil supplies after their invasion of Indochina

The growth of the suburbs and car culture was fueled by oil surplus and low prices, but those conditions were threatened as oil producing nations began to fight back against oil companies operating with impunity, culminating in the formation of OPEC