Abstract
ABSTRACT The First World War saw the emergence of a ‘politics of oil’/politique de pétrole centred on energy security. On both sides of the Channel, ministers toyed with different ways of achieving national ‘control’ of oil, some étatiste, others laissez-faire. With the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, Mesopotamian oil awaited allocation. Considering how little it contributed to the war in the Middle East, France did well out of this allocation. British concessions constituted an oily entente, more striking as Anglo-French relations deteriorated in the early 1920s. In seeking to explain this entente, inter-oil company as well as international relations need consideration. Oil companies used lobbying, the media, and mercantilist rhetoric to shape apparently ‘national’ oil policies in their own interests. The oily entente served the interest of an emerging world cartel more than it did British or French energy security.
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