This book, written by a Financial Times journalist who has long covered the energy sector, provides readers with the essential information they need for understanding the shifting structure of the global oil and gas economy - where the reserves lie, who produces what, trade patterns, consumption trends, prices. The book highlights political and social issues in the global energy sector - the domestic inequality, civil conflict and wide-spread poverty that dependence on oil exports inflicts on developing countries and the strategies of wealthy countries (especially the United States) to control oil-rich regions.