0:00:05 > 0:00:09On 5th December, 1952, Londoners woke up
0:00:09 > 0:00:12to a thick, toxic smog that had blanketed the city.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20By mid morning, all rail, road and air links were in a state of chaos.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29Reports of muggings and shop looting spiked as crime took hold.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38By the evening, people were choking to death in the streets.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44London was effectively in total shutdown for four days.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53By the time the fog eventually cleared, over 4,000 people
0:00:53 > 0:00:58were dead and hundreds of thousands more had been hospitalised.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05The cause of the catastrophe was this.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10Coal. In the winter of 1952, for the first time in years,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13we were burning astronomical amounts of the stuff.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18So much so that it created a choking fog that consumed the entire city.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22It was a tragic event repeated across the UK,
0:01:22 > 0:01:24from Manchester to Glasgow.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29And to make matters worse,
0:01:29 > 0:01:31Britain had also run out of oil.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39Our society was addicted to the stuff, but had none of its own.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45As a result, we were totally dependent on foreign lands to
0:01:45 > 0:01:47get the supplies we desperately needed.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53So when, in 1951, a man that nobody here had ever heard of
0:01:53 > 0:01:58suddenly stopped our oil flowing, Britain was brought to its knees,
0:01:58 > 0:02:00crippled and held to ransom by foreign oil.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05It was our first energy crisis...
0:02:06 > 0:02:09..and the beginning of the most dangerous chapter
0:02:09 > 0:02:10in the story of Planet Oil.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17An era that would see the rise of a new superpower
0:02:17 > 0:02:20that would come to control almost all of the world's oil.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25A time when those with it ruled supreme.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29The era of a very cheap source of energy is gone
0:02:29 > 0:02:30and this is a new era.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34Whilst those without realised
0:02:34 > 0:02:36just what they would have to do to get it.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43It's a how-to guide to overthrowing a government.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51It was the time when oil transformed from the most sought-after
0:02:51 > 0:02:55commodity on the planet to a dirty political weapon.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57Geology was about to get dangerous.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14This is the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21It's one of the driest, most barren regions in the world.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28A land scorched by 40-degree temperatures,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31where even survival is a challenge.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39Yet dotted around this region there are signs of life,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42towering monuments that have emerged from the desert in the last
0:03:42 > 0:03:4575 years or so as a result of a natural resource
0:03:45 > 0:03:49that's more abundant here than anywhere else in the world.
0:03:49 > 0:03:50Oil.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01Sprawling cities like Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, or here in Dubai, have
0:04:01 > 0:04:05literally grown out of this entire region's incredible oil wealth.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Collectively, the Middle East nations are the biggest
0:04:13 > 0:04:15producers of crude on the planet,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19pumping out around 65% of global supplies.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27It's incredible to think that, 75 years or so ago,
0:04:27 > 0:04:29this region was desert.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32Cities like this certainly just didn't exist.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38It's an astounding transformation. But what drove it?
0:04:41 > 0:04:45The answer to that question is found in the meteoric rise
0:04:45 > 0:04:47of the Middle East's most powerful oil nation,
0:04:47 > 0:04:52a place that has become the undisputed king of crude.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Saudi Arabia.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01And that story begins back in the 1930s,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04with the exploits of a rather eccentric Brit.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15This might look like an Arabian prince,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17but in fact he's a very English gentleman.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23His name was Jack Philby
0:05:23 > 0:05:27and he'd been a key diplomatic figure in Britain's pursuit of oil
0:05:27 > 0:05:30in the Middle East throughout the early 20th century.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39But in 1925, he abruptly resigned
0:05:39 > 0:05:43after accusations of sexual misconduct and espionage.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53Instead of returning to Britain, he settled in Saudi Arabia where,
0:05:53 > 0:05:57as a man well rehearsed in Arabic custom and tradition,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00he'd made many powerful and influential friends.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06And one stood out above them all.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11King Ibn Saud, the nation's ruling monarch.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17It was a relationship that was about to change Planet Oil forever.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28In 1931, during an automobile trip into the desert
0:06:28 > 0:06:33in search of water reserves, King Ibn Saud confided in Philby
0:06:33 > 0:06:36about the perilous economic state of his country.
0:06:38 > 0:06:43Bitter tribal struggles had left the nation divided and bankrupt.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46So poor, in fact, that the king
0:06:46 > 0:06:50carried his entire treasury around in a saddle bag.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54"Have you ever thought of getting into oil production?"
0:06:54 > 0:06:58Philby enquired. "Oh, Philby," Saud replied,
0:06:58 > 0:07:01"if someone was to give me one million dollars,
0:07:01 > 0:07:04"I would give them all the concessions in the world."
0:07:04 > 0:07:08That casual exchange gave Philby the germ of an idea -
0:07:08 > 0:07:12an idea that would mark the beginning of Saudi's age of oil.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20Philby knew that the British Government were desperate to
0:07:20 > 0:07:22exploit any part of the Middle East they could...
0:07:25 > 0:07:29..and that gifting them another new territory at a knock-down price
0:07:29 > 0:07:31could prove the biggest prize in history.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36But he also knew that there were others
0:07:36 > 0:07:39just as interested in Saudi's oil potential.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47There's lots of speculation as to why Philby did what he did.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50Some say that he bore a grudge against all the charges
0:07:50 > 0:07:54of espionage and sexual misconduct that were levelled against him.
0:07:54 > 0:07:55But others say that, you know,
0:07:55 > 0:08:00he just wanted the best deal for the Saudi king and his country.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02But whatever the reason, one thing's for certain -
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Britain's man in Saudi was about to stitch his old country up.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15Philby deliberately led the British to the negotiation table
0:08:15 > 0:08:19whilst all the while also holding secret talks with another party -
0:08:19 > 0:08:22American oil giant Standard.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26It would turn out to be a fateful double-cross.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39In April 1933, the Saudi finance minister,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Abdullah al-Sulaiman, sat down with a Standard Oil exec
0:08:42 > 0:08:46and signed away the rights to explore the country's oil potential.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57And all for a payment of just 275,000.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05Standard ultimately agreed to change their name
0:09:05 > 0:09:09to the Arabian American Oil Company, or ARAMCO.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14And for the next five years, they drilled the barren
0:09:14 > 0:09:17deserts of the Saudi kingdom in search of the black stuff.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25But what made them think they would ever find anything?
0:09:27 > 0:09:29At first glance, this doesn't seem
0:09:29 > 0:09:33a very sensible place to look for fossil fuels.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37After all, oil is cooked up from marine plankton and oceanic sediment
0:09:37 > 0:09:41and, well, there's not a whole lot of that in this desert expanse.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45But of course, this is the Middle East of today.
0:09:45 > 0:09:46Go back 100 million years or so
0:09:46 > 0:09:48and you find a very different environment.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59To find out more about how this now barren landscape was once
0:09:59 > 0:10:00a very different place,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04I'm heading into the desert with palaeontologist Stephen Erenberg.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11We're hoping to uncover evidence not of desert,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13but rather a massive oceanic oil factory.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21And the clues that reveal that?
0:10:22 > 0:10:24Seashells.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30So, as you look around, you see fragments all over the place,
0:10:30 > 0:10:35- really - different types of shells. - Wow.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38Some of them are quite big. Here's an example. You can see
0:10:38 > 0:10:41a little better if I dump the water on it.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44It really brings it out, doesn't it? That's quite a big one, there.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47So this might be an extinct type of oyster, got very big in the
0:10:47 > 0:10:51Cretaceous time, 70 million years ago, when this was deposited.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53See, I think a lot of people would find that surprising.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57Here we are, middle of the desert, and we're finding seashells.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02- Marine organisms living here. - Well, this entire area -
0:11:02 > 0:11:04actually, most of Arabia -
0:11:04 > 0:11:11was covered by shallow ocean water, part of the Tethys Ocean.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18This Tethys seaway was very important for the eventual
0:11:18 > 0:11:20formation of the oil deposits in the Middle East.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27There were periods when lots of marine organisms
0:11:27 > 0:11:31accumulated in the deeper parts of these shallow basins
0:11:31 > 0:11:37and formed organic-rich rocks that could later be buried
0:11:37 > 0:11:40to expel their organic content as oil.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44So it might look mundane to the passer-by, but this is actually
0:11:44 > 0:11:47one of the most economically valuable rocks in the Middle East.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49Oh, yeah, they're essential.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Shells and more shells.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58These conditions found in the Tethys Ocean
0:11:58 > 0:12:01created the perfect storm in geological terms...
0:12:02 > 0:12:05..one that produced huge reservoirs of crude oil.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08More than anywhere else on the planet.
0:12:13 > 0:12:14And millions of years later,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18when that sea had become Saudi Arabian desert, American oilmen
0:12:18 > 0:12:22drilled holes across it, hoping to tap that massive potential.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25And they did.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34ARAMCO struck oil at a site called Dammam No. 7,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37in eastern Saudi on March 4th 1938.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45But whilst most oil wells usually levelled out after just a few days,
0:12:45 > 0:12:47this one just got bigger.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52Saudi Arabia had entered the oil age with a bang.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58And Dammam turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04More wells were tapped throughout the '30s and '40s
0:13:04 > 0:13:07and by the end of the Second World War, it was clear that the
0:13:07 > 0:13:10reserves here were unlike anything else found before.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16Saudi Arabia was sitting on an ocean of crude.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21And with oil having become the most sought-after
0:13:21 > 0:13:24commodity in the post-war world, it wasn't long before this new
0:13:24 > 0:13:28bonanza attracted the attention of Planet Oil's biggest users.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Both President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill emerged victorious
0:13:37 > 0:13:41from World War II with their sights firmly set on the Middle East.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49They knew just how crucial oil was becoming in the modern world.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54And with Saudi Arabia now the biggest prize of them all,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57they both wanted it for themselves.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07In a shamelessly transparent act, both Roosevelt and Churchill
0:14:07 > 0:14:13wooed King Ibn Saud, making personal visits and showering him with gifts.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18Churchill's approach was uncharacteristically crass
0:14:18 > 0:14:20for an English gentleman.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24After the cultural faux pas of offering a teetotal Muslim ruler
0:14:24 > 0:14:27cigars and alcohol, he arranged to ship to the Saudi king
0:14:27 > 0:14:30a one-off gold-plated Rolls-Royce.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34A regal gift for a regal cause.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42Roosevelt, on the other hand, tugged at the heart, not the wallet.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49He'd done his homework, studying both the man and his culture.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53He travelled great distances to see the king
0:14:53 > 0:14:55despite his deteriorating health
0:14:55 > 0:14:58and showered him not with expensive gifts,
0:14:58 > 0:14:59but poignant ones...
0:15:01 > 0:15:03..such as the donation of his own wheelchair,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06from one polio sufferer to another.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13Roosevelt knew just how important Saudi Arabia was going to be -
0:15:13 > 0:15:18not just in terms of oil wealth, but in terms of America's entire future.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21This wasn't a time for extravagant gifts or gestures,
0:15:21 > 0:15:26this was about winning hearts and minds. Roosevelt called it right.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33The US would win big,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36cementing a political alliance that guaranteed all Saudi oil would
0:15:36 > 0:15:39now be produced by American companies.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47Britain had just been shut out of the biggest oil deal of the century,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50whilst the US government had secured its energy future
0:15:50 > 0:15:52with an endless flow of crude.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58And boy, did the oil keep flowing.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03By the 1940s,
0:16:03 > 0:16:07billion-dollar oil pipeline projects were pumping
0:16:07 > 0:16:12millions of barrels of crude across continents to Western consumers who
0:16:12 > 0:16:19were using it for everything from cars to the latest wonder product...
0:16:19 > 0:16:21plastic.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24Animal, vegetable or mineral?
0:16:24 > 0:16:28Maybe this little thimble belongs to a kingdom all of its own,
0:16:28 > 0:16:30the kingdom of plastics.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34Geology had never been more valuable.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39And with US politicians and private oil companies controlling it all,
0:16:39 > 0:16:43they had made sure that they would all be in the black for generations.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51But as the West revelled in this new oil nirvana,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54the political tide in the Middle East was changing.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03The oil free-for-all might have given Britain and the US
0:17:03 > 0:17:08energy security, but the boom had not gone unnoticed by their hosts.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14One morning in 1950,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18the Saudi Arabian finance minister sat down to read the paper.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26He came upon an article celebrating ARAMCO's triumphant oil
0:17:26 > 0:17:30finds in his country, a success he knew all too well,
0:17:30 > 0:17:34since this was Abdullah Suleiman, the very man who had signed
0:17:34 > 0:17:37Saudi's original oil deal with the US 20 years earlier.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47But it wasn't celebration that was in Suleiman's thoughts that day
0:17:47 > 0:17:51but rather some jaw-dropping facts that the article revealed.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55Suleiman noted that the profits received by the Saudi
0:17:55 > 0:17:59government had gone up from five million in 1932
0:17:59 > 0:18:02to over 50 million by 1950.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06Good news? Not as far as he was concerned.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09If that was the increase of his nation's slice of the profits,
0:18:09 > 0:18:11how much was the company making?
0:18:14 > 0:18:17Suleiman decided to dig a little deeper,
0:18:17 > 0:18:19and what he discovered shocked him.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26In the years between 1944 and '49, profits had increased forty-fold.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32But the Saudis were guaranteed only a tiny percentage of that wealth...
0:18:35 > 0:18:39..all very well when there was no oil, but now it was flowing
0:18:39 > 0:18:41so freely, Suleiman wasn't quite so happy.
0:18:44 > 0:18:49In fact, ARAMCO were paying more in taxes to the US treasury
0:18:49 > 0:18:51than they were in profits to the Saudi government.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Suleiman's country was being ripped off.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08That realisation would spark a seismic
0:19:08 > 0:19:11shift in the ownership of the Middle East's oil wealth.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17And Saudi Arabia's energy minister was the first to make his move.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Suleiman first asked for, then demanded,
0:19:25 > 0:19:29a change to the concession that he'd signed in 1932.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32Saudi Arabia wanted a new trade deal,
0:19:32 > 0:19:36an equal 50% share in their own oil profits.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41ARAMCO didn't like the idea at all, but the execs knew
0:19:41 > 0:19:45that if they wanted to keep the oil flowing, they'd have to accept it.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48This was the new future.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57In December 1950, a new 50-50 agreement was
0:19:57 > 0:20:00reached between ARAMCO and the Saudi government.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07The age of private companies ruling over the world's crude
0:20:07 > 0:20:08was coming to an end.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Now the nations that held the oil
0:20:13 > 0:20:16demanded greater ownership of their own resource.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20And anyone who wanted it had no choice
0:20:20 > 0:20:23but to bow to the new terms of trade.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28You know, it's hard to overstate just what a seismic shift in global
0:20:28 > 0:20:30oil relations this was.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34Suddenly "50-50 deals" was the buzz word that reverberated
0:20:34 > 0:20:36round boardrooms throughout the Arab world.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Middle Eastern countries were on the rise,
0:20:39 > 0:20:43a rise that was rooted in those perfect geological conditions
0:20:43 > 0:20:45that just happened to lie underneath them.
0:20:49 > 0:20:50With countries throughout the region
0:20:50 > 0:20:54quickly following in Suleiman's footsteps, it wasn't long
0:20:54 > 0:20:58before attention turned to Iran and Britain's oil interests.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07Anglo-Persian Oil - or BP, as it's better known today -
0:21:07 > 0:21:10had controlled the Iranian oilfields since the early
0:21:10 > 0:21:1520th century, but unlike others, they were no ordinary oil company.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Thanks to Winston Churchill, they'd been majority owned
0:21:24 > 0:21:27by the British government since 1914.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33And as far as they were concerned, the idea of handing 50% of
0:21:33 > 0:21:37the oil profits back to the Iranian government was not even an option.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44But that blind obstinance was about to haunt them.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50In March 1951,
0:21:50 > 0:21:55the Iranian Prime Minister, Haj Ali Razmara, was assassinated amidst
0:21:55 > 0:21:57an air of increasing civil unrest in the country.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02Razmara had been supportive of Britain's colonial
0:22:02 > 0:22:04control of Iranian oil reserves.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10And as revolution brewed, he paid the ultimate price for it.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19In his place, the ruling Shah of Iran appointed Mohammad Mossadegh,
0:22:19 > 0:22:20a very different kind of leader.
0:22:25 > 0:22:26It had been just months
0:22:26 > 0:22:30since Saudi Arabia's new 50-50 oil deal had been agreed...
0:22:31 > 0:22:35..and Mossadegh had watched it all unfold with interest.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40Now he was ready to make his move.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48I'm meeting Mossadegh biographer Roxane Farmanfarmaian to find out
0:22:48 > 0:22:52more about how this man was about to transform Britain's oil future.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01What was the relationship at that time like with the Iranian
0:23:01 > 0:23:03oil company and with the British?
0:23:03 > 0:23:05It was very contentious.
0:23:05 > 0:23:11There was a clear sense that the value of the oil was
0:23:11 > 0:23:15being lost to the British, there was very little that was actually
0:23:15 > 0:23:18being sent back to Iran.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21And that was the beginning, if you will, of
0:23:21 > 0:23:26this whole nationalisation project that Mossadegh began, because
0:23:26 > 0:23:31he simply felt that Iran deserved the right to its own resources.
0:23:31 > 0:23:36So how did the change happen where Mossadegh comes in
0:23:36 > 0:23:39and transforms that whole landscape?
0:23:39 > 0:23:43It was building up. There was a real break
0:23:43 > 0:23:48in the ability of British negotiators to see that the Iranian
0:23:48 > 0:23:52situation was beginning to reach a crisis point.
0:23:52 > 0:23:58It was not clear perhaps to those in Whitehall that this was truly
0:23:58 > 0:24:00something they were going to lose.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02There still was this sense that
0:24:02 > 0:24:06this contract could be negotiated - after all, there was still a lot
0:24:06 > 0:24:10of opportunity, it was just that the Iranians were being very pig-headed.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Almost immediately at the outset we were asked
0:24:13 > 0:24:17to accept the Persian law as it stands.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19I replied that we could not do that.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24Mossadegh finally determines that there isn't going to be a deal.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27The government is an extremist government,
0:24:27 > 0:24:31and it will not admit anything but a full surrender of all our rights.
0:24:31 > 0:24:37So the whole mantra started being "nationalisation, nationalisation".
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Britain's refusal to share Iran's oil equally with the country's
0:24:44 > 0:24:48new political leader was a disastrous misjudgment.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55In the spring of 1951, Mossadegh seized control
0:24:55 > 0:24:59of all his country's oilfields and sent the British workers packing.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07The UK was completely frozen out of her only oil supply.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11Ever since the birth of the oil age, Britain's been
0:25:11 > 0:25:14worried about its energy security.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17All that political pondering, though, can be traced back
0:25:17 > 0:25:20to the day that Mossadegh took away Britain's oil.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Nobody had ever done that before, and it made us
0:25:24 > 0:25:26realise just how exposed we were.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30In 1951, without oil, Britain was in serious
0:25:30 > 0:25:34trouble, an energy orphan for the first time in its history.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42The country quickly ground to a halt.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48Economic output was crippled and unemployment spiked.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54Even grand events, like the Festival of Britain,
0:25:54 > 0:25:58which tried to lift spirits by showcasing a modern UK,
0:25:58 > 0:26:00served only to highlight the problem further...
0:26:03 > 0:26:07..for the very things it promised, like new central heating in every
0:26:07 > 0:26:11home or a gadget-filled future, were all made from oil.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17Britain simply had to get its Iranian oil flowing again.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20But nobody was in the mood for another war,
0:26:20 > 0:26:24and a bankrupt UK government certainly couldn't afford one.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30The only way back was through diplomacy,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33and the newly formed United Nations was the place to do it.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43For the British, it was an open-and-shut case.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47They had invested millions in establishing the oilfields of Iran
0:26:47 > 0:26:50and nobody had the right to illegally take them away.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56Unfortunately for the Brits, the UN didn't quite see it that way.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58The US sat on the fence, anxious not to
0:26:58 > 0:27:01jeopardise their interests in Saudi Arabia.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05Meanwhile, Mohammad Mossadegh rolled into town and denounced the British
0:27:05 > 0:27:10as a gang of thieves draining his country of its mineral wealth.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13To be honest, many of the delegates thought he had a point.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17The political tide amongst the oil-rich nations of the Middle East
0:27:17 > 0:27:19was on the turn.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23Britain's diplomatic offensive was doomed from the start.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29Mossadegh was going to keep his oil.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35And that deadlock simply meant continued fuel poverty for the UK...
0:27:37 > 0:27:41..and a disastrous attempt to keep the country moving at any cost.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49Oil had been used as a political weapon for the first time.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51And what a punch it packed.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01But a modern society without oil was simply not an option.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08The only way Britain was going to get it back was to fight for it.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14And for that, they needed help.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24I'm in Washington to find out about Britain's next move...
0:28:27 > 0:28:30..an event that was to become a landmark moment
0:28:30 > 0:28:32in the Planet Oil story.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37It was called Operation Ajax, and the plan was simple.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40It was to overthrow the Iranian Prime Minister
0:28:40 > 0:28:42and put in his place a new man,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45one hand-picked by the US and the UK,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48a man who'd be sympathetic to Britain's predicament -
0:28:48 > 0:28:51basically, someone who would give them their oil back.
0:28:51 > 0:28:56And this was the guy, a military general called Fazlollah Zahedi.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59This was going to be the world's first
0:28:59 > 0:29:01coup d'etat in the name of oil.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10I've been invited to take a rare look at some top-secret
0:29:10 > 0:29:14documents, declassified just last year, that provide
0:29:14 > 0:29:18a fascinating insight into how this coup would be played out.
0:29:24 > 0:29:29So, what are these documents? It's got "clandestine service history".
0:29:29 > 0:29:32Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35It's just a fascinating account.
0:29:35 > 0:29:40It's a "how to" guide to overthrowing a government.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45So, who was pushing it? Who was the main architect?
0:29:45 > 0:29:49Well, it occurred on different levels.
0:29:49 > 0:29:50They have right here
0:29:50 > 0:29:54the director of CIA approves the operational plan on 11th July '53.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56So is that the UK Foreign Secretary?
0:29:56 > 0:29:59That's the UK, the director of SIS, which is MI6,
0:29:59 > 0:30:02the British Prime Minister, Churchill, on 1st July
0:30:02 > 0:30:04and President Eisenhower on 11th July.
0:30:04 > 0:30:09- So, no ducking responsibility there! - That's extraordinary.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12I mean, that seems like a really big deal,
0:30:12 > 0:30:15the leaders of two Western countries
0:30:15 > 0:30:19signing this decree that would essentially overthrow another one.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22But I wasn't sure what the Americans were getting out of this.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25They were putting this investment in. What was in it for them?
0:30:25 > 0:30:31They had a very deep concern about the way events were
0:30:31 > 0:30:32working in the world.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35The cold war was happening and they wanted above all to prevent
0:30:35 > 0:30:40the communists, led by the Soviets, from gaining inroads
0:30:40 > 0:30:43anywhere in the Middle East, anywhere where there were
0:30:43 > 0:30:46strategic resources, and of course oil was the big issue in Iran.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53Operation Ajax was a new approach to energy security,
0:30:53 > 0:30:55one in which political treachery was an acceptable
0:30:55 > 0:30:57tactic in pursuit of oil.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02"With or without a royal decree, Zahedi will take over
0:31:02 > 0:31:05"the government and will execute the various requirements of coup day."
0:31:05 > 0:31:07'And as these documents show, there was
0:31:07 > 0:31:09'no limit to the dirty tricks
0:31:09 > 0:31:11'Britain and America were willing to pull.'
0:31:12 > 0:31:14I notice the million dollars there.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19Yeah. The director, which is the director of Central Intelligence,
0:31:19 > 0:31:22on April 4th '53, approved a budget of a million dollars,
0:31:22 > 0:31:25which could be used by the Tehran station, the CIA station,
0:31:25 > 0:31:28in any way that would bring about the fall of Mossadegh.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32And it's just nasty stuff. It's what they call black propaganda.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35It's to make Mossadegh look bad in any way possible,
0:31:35 > 0:31:41including calling him a homosexual, calling him a Jew, calling him
0:31:41 > 0:31:44a pro-communist, calling him anti-religious, you name it.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47It's extraordinary to see it all just laid out in black and white.
0:31:47 > 0:31:49It is incredible.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56'The hope with Operation Ajax was that by orchestrating political
0:31:56 > 0:32:00'dissent like this, they would spark a revolution from within.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04'Iran's own people would do Britain
0:32:04 > 0:32:08'and America's dirty work for them and get rid of Mossadegh.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16'But as the secret plot played out, things didn't quite go to plan.'
0:32:27 > 0:32:30With the anti-Mossadegh propaganda seeded
0:32:30 > 0:32:34and civil unrest well established, Iran's leader began to smell a rat.
0:32:39 > 0:32:40Realising the deception,
0:32:40 > 0:32:44Mossadegh quickly gathered his prime ministerial guard around him.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52Meanwhile, the royal Shah, who'd been persuaded by the British to
0:32:52 > 0:32:56go along with their secret plot, panicked and fled the country.
0:32:58 > 0:33:03Operation Ajax was in danger of falling apart, but for the CIA
0:33:03 > 0:33:06and an oil-desperate Britain there was no turning back now.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14They intensified the campaign of civil unrest...
0:33:15 > 0:33:19..only now encouraging it to become more violent.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28And with black propaganda also claiming that their Shah
0:33:28 > 0:33:31had in fact been ousted from his country by the tyrannical
0:33:31 > 0:33:34Prime Minister, Mossadegh was doomed.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40By August 1953, he was arrested.
0:33:40 > 0:33:45The West's new hand-picked leader was in place and the Shah returned.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00Mossadegh was quickly tried
0:34:00 > 0:34:03and would spend the rest of his life behind bars, whilst
0:34:03 > 0:34:08Planet Oil's first coup d'etat was declared a triumphant success.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21But Operation Ajax would turn out to be
0:34:21 > 0:34:23something of a double-edged sword.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28Of course, Britain did get her oil back, but at what cost?
0:34:28 > 0:34:31In the end, Britain had to settle for that 50-50 deal that it
0:34:31 > 0:34:35had so furiously fought to avoid in the first place.
0:34:35 > 0:34:36The war was for nothing.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41What this incident had really shown was that Planet Oil had
0:34:41 > 0:34:46entered a new phase, where once-powerful Western nations were
0:34:46 > 0:34:49now energy orphans who would stop at nothing to ensure
0:34:49 > 0:34:52they got the supplies they so desperately needed.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00And for addicts like Britain,
0:35:00 > 0:35:03the victory of Ajax would soon feel like a miserable defeat.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09Far from putting the Middle East in its place,
0:35:09 > 0:35:14the Iranian crisis simply lit the touchpaper of oil nationalisation.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20Mohammad Mossadegh became a poster boy
0:35:20 > 0:35:23to a generation of leaders in the region, all of whom wanted more
0:35:23 > 0:35:29control of their own oil, and that just meant more trouble for the UK.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38When, in 1956, Egypt's president, Gamal Nasser,
0:35:38 > 0:35:42became the latest Mossadegh follower to flex his muscles,
0:35:42 > 0:35:44Britain was about to feel the pinch yet again.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49Egypt didn't have any oil of its own,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52but it did have the Suez Canal running through it,
0:35:52 > 0:35:55a waterway that was essential for the transportation
0:35:55 > 0:35:58of Britain's crude from the Middle East into Europe.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02And Egypt's leader knew just how important that was.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12Nasser demanded control of the canal
0:36:12 > 0:36:15and the lucrative toll charges it set oil tankers.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23When the Anglo-French partnership that owned it refused,
0:36:23 > 0:36:27Nasser blockaded it with scuttled ships to show he meant business.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35Britain's oil transportation route from the Middle East into Europe was
0:36:35 > 0:36:40instantly shut down, and the country was once again in serious trouble.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46For Britain, it all had a very familiar ring to it.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50Yet again, another Middle Eastern country was holding them
0:36:50 > 0:36:52and their oil to ransom.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55And just as in the case of the Mossadegh crisis in Iran,
0:36:55 > 0:36:58the outcome was going to be messy.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04The Suez Crisis, as it became known,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07triggered yet more fuel shortages, driving restrictions
0:37:07 > 0:37:11and another economic slump in November 1956.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18Ironically, it even led to the creation of one of Britain's
0:37:18 > 0:37:20most famous cars.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26By the winter of 1956, Britain was literally running dry.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29The only cars that people could really drive were these tiny
0:37:29 > 0:37:33German bubble cars that ran on a smidgeon of fuel.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37That was, until Morris Motors designer Alec Issigonis came up
0:37:37 > 0:37:40with this little beauty, a new car for a new era,
0:37:40 > 0:37:43one in which only the smallest vehicles with the smallest
0:37:43 > 0:37:45fuel tanks could afford to run.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56Oil poverty might have given birth to a British icon...
0:37:57 > 0:38:01..but what cars like the Mini really represented was humiliation
0:38:01 > 0:38:05and a terrible reversal of fortunes for a once-great nation.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18The colonies they once ran were now in total control of the world's oil.
0:38:21 > 0:38:25And amongst these new Middle East giants, the black stuff
0:38:25 > 0:38:26flowed like never before.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36The term "elephant field" was coined,
0:38:36 > 0:38:38a name given to an oil reserve that produced more than
0:38:38 > 0:38:41100 million barrels of crude.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47These kind of discoveries became ubiquitous across the region...
0:38:49 > 0:38:52..and by 1960, seven out of every ten barrels of oil
0:38:52 > 0:38:56being produced in the world came out of the Middle East.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02This place wasn't just the biggest player in Planet Oil,
0:39:02 > 0:39:04it effectively WAS Planet Oil.
0:39:09 > 0:39:11But being this plentiful also made it cheap.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18With so much oil on the market, its value plummeted to an all-time low.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24It soon became apparent that the Middle East's glut
0:39:24 > 0:39:26could in fact be its undoing.
0:39:32 > 0:39:34If profits were going to be restored,
0:39:34 > 0:39:36the industry needed a radical solution...
0:39:39 > 0:39:43..and a radical geologist was about to step up and provide one.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48A man responsible for the creation
0:39:48 > 0:39:50of the world's most powerful oil club.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55But it's one that most people haven't even heard of.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02Excuse me, I'm doing a little survey.
0:40:02 > 0:40:03Do you know who these guys are?
0:40:03 > 0:40:06OPEC. No? OPEC?
0:40:06 > 0:40:08No?
0:40:08 > 0:40:11Do you know who these guys are? OPEC.
0:40:11 > 0:40:13OPEC? Mean anything to you?
0:40:13 > 0:40:16Have you heard of these guys?
0:40:16 > 0:40:18No?
0:40:18 > 0:40:20OPEC? OPEC?
0:40:23 > 0:40:26They are, like, this big international organisation. Huge.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30- Is it not European Community or something?- No.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33These guys kind of control your life in a way, and I just wondered
0:40:33 > 0:40:35if you knew what OPEC stood for.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37That's the first time I saw that.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39- The first time?- Yeah.- OK.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43No-one seems to have heard of OPEC.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45OPEC?
0:40:45 > 0:40:46OPEC?
0:40:48 > 0:40:50We might not have a clue what it is,
0:40:50 > 0:40:53but the decisions that this organisation make
0:40:53 > 0:40:56dictate how much our hydrocarbon lives cost each year.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01And that's precisely the reason it was created in the first place.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09In 1960, the world was producing too much oil,
0:41:09 > 0:41:12and this man wanted to do something about it.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19Juan Pablo Alfonso, the Venezuelan Energy Minister
0:41:19 > 0:41:23and a key figure in South America's oil boom.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26Alfonso watched the Middle East's meteoric rise throughout
0:41:26 > 0:41:30the '40s and '50s as oil nationalisation took hold.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32But with that rise,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35he also witnessed the decline in the value of oil.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42The new worldwide glut had made this once-precious resource cheap...
0:41:44 > 0:41:47..and Alfonso had a plan to make it valuable again.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52His idea was to bring together the world's top oil-producing
0:41:52 > 0:41:55countries into a kind of private members' club.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59But this was no idle gentlemen's dining society, this was a group
0:41:59 > 0:42:03focused entirely on controlling production levels
0:42:03 > 0:42:06and setting a single, unified price for their oil.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08It was a masterstroke.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14In September 1960, Alfonso met with
0:42:14 > 0:42:18the Saudi Arabian Energy Minister and revealed his plan.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC,
0:42:24 > 0:42:27was born, and from that moment,
0:42:27 > 0:42:30the status of oil as a commodity would change for ever.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37Never again would it flow freely throughout the world.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40Instead, it would be drip-fed by the nations who had it
0:42:40 > 0:42:42to those who could afford it.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48The world's addiction to oil would be controlled by a new
0:42:48 > 0:42:52all-powerful cartel of countries who would fix their own prices
0:42:52 > 0:42:54and their own output.
0:42:54 > 0:42:59It was a win-win situation for the new Arab superpowers, but it was bad
0:42:59 > 0:43:02news for nations like Britain, who didn't have their own oil.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04MUSIC: Ghost Town by the Specials
0:43:04 > 0:43:09OPEC would grow rapidly as all the world's major oil producers joined
0:43:09 > 0:43:13the club, and by the early 1970s its rise was complete.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21Western oil execs were replaced by slick Arab politicians,
0:43:21 > 0:43:25like the Saudi Petroleum Minister, Sheikh Zaki Yamani.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32They were now the new masters of crude.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38Doesn't this new massive increase in the price of oil mean
0:43:38 > 0:43:42a change in the world balance of power between the developing nations
0:43:42 > 0:43:46like you, the producers, and us, the developed, industrialised nations?
0:43:46 > 0:43:48Yes, it will.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52# This town is comin' like a ghost town. #
0:43:55 > 0:43:58If countries like Britain wanted their oil,
0:43:58 > 0:44:03they'd have to pay men like Yamani the OPEC club price or go without.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08But whilst the UK knew all too well just what it was like
0:44:08 > 0:44:11to be starved of the most precious natural resource in the world,
0:44:11 > 0:44:15for other Western users, going without had never been a problem.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22By the early 1970s,
0:44:22 > 0:44:26the US was getting the majority of its oil from Saudi Arabia.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29It had become the very lifeblood of American society.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34Nowhere on the planet was the age of hydrocarbon man
0:44:34 > 0:44:36more evident than in this country.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41MUSIC: Pick Up The Pieces by Average White Band
0:44:42 > 0:44:45Oil had made a generation of Americans
0:44:45 > 0:44:47more mobile than ever before.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55It had fed them...
0:44:57 > 0:44:59..clothed them....
0:45:04 > 0:45:07..and built the very fabric of their lives.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16But with relations strong between US politicians
0:45:16 > 0:45:21and Saudi oil sheikhs, America's oil future was guaranteed.
0:45:23 > 0:45:24Wasn't it?
0:45:28 > 0:45:31I'm back in Washington to learn about a crucial turning
0:45:31 > 0:45:33point in America's oil story.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37I remember it quite well.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40People were becoming extremely agitated.
0:45:40 > 0:45:41They were getting in fights.
0:45:41 > 0:45:47- There were even things where people were pulling out their guns.- Really?
0:45:49 > 0:45:50It probably...
0:45:51 > 0:45:55..was one of the first major battles...
0:45:55 > 0:45:57about guns in the United States,
0:45:57 > 0:46:00and people were just carrying their guns openly.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06'The event that Washington cab driver Nathan Price is describing
0:46:06 > 0:46:09'was a truly seismic one in America's history...
0:46:12 > 0:46:16'..a moment when its people were faced with a frightening question -
0:46:16 > 0:46:18'what would you do without oil?'
0:46:22 > 0:46:26And it was all down to that powerful new oil club OPEC.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30MUSIC: All Along The Watchtower by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
0:46:32 > 0:46:35It was October 1973.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38Egypt and Syria were at war with Israel over the occupation
0:46:38 > 0:46:42of Israeli-held territories in the West Bank and the Sinai peninsula.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48# There must be some kind of way out of here... #
0:46:48 > 0:46:51The US was sympathetic to the Israeli cause
0:46:51 > 0:46:54and chose to re-supply them with arms.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57# There's too much confusion... #
0:46:57 > 0:47:01It was a decision they would pay dearly for.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05To appreciate the scale of the disaster in the making,
0:47:05 > 0:47:08you have to understand that in this country oil consumption had
0:47:08 > 0:47:11been rising at 5% a year for the previous decade.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14It was almost like every year Americans were finding
0:47:14 > 0:47:15new uses for the stuff.
0:47:15 > 0:47:19The US simply couldn't function without oil.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22And yet it was about to be forced to.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27OPEC, angered by US military support of Israel,
0:47:27 > 0:47:30responded in the only way they knew -
0:47:30 > 0:47:33by shutting off America's oil supply.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39In an instant, the US ran dry.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44Within a month, the nation was grinding to a halt.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49The cost of gasoline quadrupled...
0:47:51 > 0:47:55..and by November 1973, the US President, Richard Nixon,
0:47:55 > 0:47:58was forced to address the nation with a grave warning.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04This is a special report from CBS News in Washington.
0:48:05 > 0:48:06Good evening.
0:48:06 > 0:48:11The sudden cut-off of oil from the Middle East has turned the serious
0:48:11 > 0:48:16energy shortages we expected this winter into a major energy crisis.
0:48:20 > 0:48:24In '73 and, I believe, maybe it was even in '74,
0:48:24 > 0:48:26Richard Nixon did not have...
0:48:26 > 0:48:28The national Christmas tree wasn't lit.
0:48:28 > 0:48:32- Quite symbolic, isn't it? - It's very symbolic.
0:48:34 > 0:48:36And what about other things? Did you see
0:48:36 > 0:48:39kind of knock-on effects in the shops of prices going up?
0:48:39 > 0:48:43Oh! Well, the biggest other thing that really got to people was
0:48:43 > 0:48:45the price of food.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48Everything that was produced that maybe needed transportation
0:48:48 > 0:48:53and oil, it was like a trickle-down effect, and pretty soon,
0:48:53 > 0:48:57the consumers' pocket book began to get hit.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59Was there a sense of panic at all?
0:48:59 > 0:49:04Oh! People would walk around with a tube in the back of their car,
0:49:04 > 0:49:08so they could siphon gas off somebody's car,
0:49:08 > 0:49:13and people were pretty much standing on guard on their car and
0:49:13 > 0:49:17putting signs on their window - "If you steal my gas, I'll shoot you".
0:49:20 > 0:49:24This was completely new territory for America and its people.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28It was one thing for Britain to be starved of crude, but when the most
0:49:28 > 0:49:33powerful nation on earth had an oil drought, that was a step too far.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36- Have you had trouble getting gasoline?- I have.- Tell me about it.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39Well, instead of getting a full tank,
0:49:39 > 0:49:41I get four or five gallons. Never a full tank.
0:49:44 > 0:49:48But America's first oil shock also highlighted that this was
0:49:48 > 0:49:49only going to get worse.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54A solution simply had to be found.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01But where to find oil outside of the Middle East?
0:50:03 > 0:50:07The US had plundered its own reserves in less than 100 years
0:50:07 > 0:50:10and Britain never had any of its own in the first place.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16The only place oilmen hadn't really looked for the black stuff
0:50:16 > 0:50:20was in what had been considered the last great frontier.
0:50:21 > 0:50:22The world's oceans.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30It was a place the industry had always tried to avoid,
0:50:30 > 0:50:33simply because of the massive technological
0:50:33 > 0:50:34challenges of tackling it.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40But the world's big oil users were now desperate,
0:50:40 > 0:50:41and Britain more so than most.
0:50:44 > 0:50:48The UK economy had been crushed by oil droughts throughout
0:50:48 > 0:50:50the '50s and '60s.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52She needed new oil more than anyone.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59And the sea that surrounded her was the last hope of finding it.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06The North Sea's fossil fuel potential had first been
0:51:06 > 0:51:09identified in the early 1960s,
0:51:09 > 0:51:12when a huge gas field was unearthed off the coast of Holland.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18Geologists who discovered the find also realised that the very
0:51:18 > 0:51:21same rocks that produced fossil fuels here
0:51:21 > 0:51:23ran all the way to the British coast.
0:51:25 > 0:51:30It was a tantalising clue that they too might contain oil.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35Those hot spots were all the incentive
0:51:35 > 0:51:37that an oil-desperate government needed.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40In '64, they quickly introduced
0:51:40 > 0:51:43the UK Continental Shelf Act that divided the North Sea into
0:51:43 > 0:51:47something like 960 blocks, or oil sectors.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51The race for Britain's oil was on,
0:51:51 > 0:51:53and everyone was invited to the party.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00But thinking there might be oil was one thing -
0:52:00 > 0:52:03actually finding it was something else.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10I'm heading out into the North Sea to experience for myself just
0:52:10 > 0:52:13what a brutal baptism of fire that search was going to be.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25Britain's North Sea pioneers faced an almost unimaginable odyssey
0:52:25 > 0:52:29100 miles into one of the most hostile seas in the world.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36And if that wasn't hard enough, they then had to drill down through
0:52:36 > 0:52:39hundreds of feet of solid bedrock to find oil reserves that they
0:52:39 > 0:52:41weren't sure even existed.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51Even with the invention of the oilrig, which allowed them
0:52:51 > 0:52:54to do that, this was a very risky business.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07In December 1965, just a few months after
0:53:07 > 0:53:10Britain's North Sea quest began, a small drilling rig,
0:53:10 > 0:53:14called Sea Gem, located off the coast of East Anglia,
0:53:14 > 0:53:16made history by becoming the first
0:53:16 > 0:53:18to find fossil fuels in the North Sea.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25It wasn't oil they found, but gas.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28But as far as Britain's North Sea pioneers were concerned,
0:53:28 > 0:53:31where gas lay, crude would surely follow.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38It was a moment of hope that Britain might at last
0:53:38 > 0:53:41be about to find some energy of her own.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46But the elation was short-lived.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51It was just a few days after the discovery,
0:53:51 > 0:53:54Boxing Day 1965, in fact, the crew,
0:53:54 > 0:53:5732 of them were inside, having a festive lunch
0:53:57 > 0:53:59when disaster struck.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08Heavy seas caused the legs of the rig to buckle
0:54:08 > 0:54:11and the whole structure just toppled into the North sea.
0:54:11 > 0:54:1413 men died in those freezing waters.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18It was a tragic reminder of the cost of success.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24And the fact that today hardly anyone remembers the tale is
0:54:24 > 0:54:28probably because, back then, it was considered a price worth paying.
0:54:34 > 0:54:35Britain had tasted success
0:54:35 > 0:54:39and nothing was going to stop her now, not even human tragedy.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45And as the '60s gave way to the '70s,
0:54:45 > 0:54:49that potential tapped by the Sea Gem turned out to be spot-on
0:54:49 > 0:54:53as the big oil fields everyone had hoped for began to materialise.
0:54:57 > 0:55:02BP's fabled Forties field was the first to be tapped in 1970.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06Quickly followed in 1971 by the discovery
0:55:06 > 0:55:09of Shell's North Sea giant, Brent -
0:55:09 > 0:55:11an oil field that produced as much crude
0:55:11 > 0:55:13as some of the Middle East's biggest reserves.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24It was clear that this was going to be huge business.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27And that made competition fierce amongst the big companies.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35The stakes were so high that secrecy was the order of the day.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37Shell used these Enigma code breakers
0:55:37 > 0:55:40to relay the latest messages about oil finds,
0:55:40 > 0:55:44whereas BP would send their messages in Farsi, Persian.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48Even the British government had this coded alphabet to get
0:55:48 > 0:55:50the latest news about the North Sea.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53It was like something out of a John Le Carre spy novel.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02But that paranoia was justified.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04The Brent and Forties fields alone
0:56:04 > 0:56:07promised around one million barrels of oil every day.
0:56:10 > 0:56:14And when the discovery of yet more oil fields across the North Sea
0:56:14 > 0:56:18followed, it was clear just how transformative this was going to be.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25Whenever a big oil field was discovered, it was tradition to
0:56:25 > 0:56:30hand out cigars to the rig workers - you know, celebrate the success.
0:56:30 > 0:56:33Well, in the 1970s, cigars were being handed over
0:56:33 > 0:56:36in box loads right across the North Sea.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39It was becoming clear that Britain was going to be filthy rich,
0:56:39 > 0:56:43and when the Queen formally opened the commercial taps
0:56:43 > 0:56:45of the North Sea oil fields in 1975,
0:56:45 > 0:56:49the entire world would wake up to just how much.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57THE QUEEN: 'If we use it right,'
0:56:57 > 0:56:58this flood of energy can,
0:56:58 > 0:57:03without doubt, much improve our economic wellbeing.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09Government profits from oil production immediately
0:57:09 > 0:57:12added around £100 million to treasury coffers.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18And by the late 1970s, the UK had become an oil exporter,
0:57:18 > 0:57:20for the first time in our history.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25We had finally unshackled ourselves
0:57:25 > 0:57:28from our 20th-century energy nightmare.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33This was going to be an age of plenty,
0:57:33 > 0:57:36and a boom the likes of which nobody had seen before.
0:57:38 > 0:57:40What could possibly go wrong?
0:57:44 > 0:57:48As oil giants and politicians together celebrated this new age
0:57:48 > 0:57:53of oil wealth, a dark speck hovered on the horizon that was about to
0:57:53 > 0:58:00threaten not just the North Sea, but the whole industry's very existence.
0:58:00 > 0:58:01Global warming.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07We were all about to be reminded of just how dangerous
0:58:07 > 0:58:09our addiction to fossil fuels had become.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18Could Planet Oil afford to keep using the black stuff,
0:58:18 > 0:58:21or were we going to have to go cold turkey
0:58:21 > 0:58:24and give up this precious resource for ever?