Daniel Yergin – Oil Explains the Entire 20th Century

Timestamps:
(00:00:00) – Beginning of the oil industry
(00:14:21) – World War I & II
(00:25:50) – The Middle East
(00:47:48) – Yergin’s conversations with Putin & Modi
(01:05:20) – Writing through stories
(01:11:10) – The renewable energy transition

Buy The New Map:

Buy The Prize:

[DwarkeshPatel]

Unless you understand the history of oil, you cannot understand the rise of America, WW1, WW2, the Middle East, how Xi and Putin think, secular stagnation, and basically anything else that’s happened since 1860.

It was a great honor to interview Daniel Yergin, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Prize.

The Prize is the greatest history of oil ever written (which makes it the greatest history of the 20th century ever written).

Enjoy!

[AndyLee-xmlo]

Dwarkesh has been absolutely on fire with interviewing these people. The semi-hidden gem guests who are titans in their fields of research and have so much to share. By far the best podcaster/interviewer.

[MrJmreal]

I am blown away - Daniel Yergin. The Prize has to be one of the most important books ever written on how the world works nobody has heard of.

[lilUrso]

definitely prefer a Dwarkesh interview over a Lex Friedman podcast. pure substance, excellent questions, and no philosophical bull/spin, unlike other podcasters. Dwarkesh is authentic.

[stuartlawler]

Dwarkesh, I reckon is gonna go to the very top of this game. He plays the perfect role with his childish eagerness and in turn always asks the questions you want to know. These guest could get lost in details very easily and he makes it remain consumable. Good form 🎉

[SuperLanyard]

Daniel's book: The Prize is one of the best books I've ever read!

[glike]

Norway is another country that also used oil to build a massive sovereign wealth fund and secure its economic prosperity

[basskick]

It's taking all my self control to not watch this immediately...something to look forward to after work.❤

[blek]

"The two most important characters: supply and demand" 33:41 🔥🔥🔥

[dr.woozie]

I remember when there was an actual debate in Congress about fracking around 10-15 years ago, but now that the US is out of the Middle East and Russian pipelines have cut Europes supply everyone is all for it. It’s a huge geopolitical game for energy.

[TheDrokon]

Hey Dwarkesh, can you do a post or video about how your prepare for interviews? You've got insightful questions that get to the heart of the matter very quickly.

[LIGO-LHC]

Just a little feedback for Dwarkesh (friendly, a fan). *Slow down everyone
You're moving too fast
Frames can't catch you when
You're moving like that"-jj. I suffer the same excitement for to present internal understanding.

[lilgarbagedisposal]

US fracking has had a big impact on the 21st century too: lowered US emissions, killed coal, lead to the formation of OPEC+, reduced US involvement in the Middle East, saved Europe during the Ukraine war, etc.

[jonatasbarbosacampos]

I'm Brazilian. I'm reading a Portuguese version of "The prize" — is excelent. (The tittle of that book in Brazil are "O petróleo" ["The petroleum"].)

[ferminromero]

Informative and interesting. Liking this podcast more and more. Guests like this are amazing.

[Seekerofknowledges]

The quality of the guest list is off the charts.
Well done gentlemen.

[AvnerSenderowicz]

Best podscast I've listened to all year, at least.
Excellent interviewing skills and knowledge by host but also letting guest talk.
And as to the guest - cannot think of a more interesting person to listen to, I've read The Prize ten or so years ago and it changed my view of the world.
Thank you both and all involved.
(also, subscribed, ofc)

[miloenglish]

Great interview
Everything is said unbiasedly.

[liksar]

What a charming, intelligent, knowledgeable and civilized gentleman.

[denisevincent]

Yes, WWI had wild swings in tech. I've been using genetic genealogy to find my orphaned paternal grandfather's family (who I learned had trained to fly airplanes during WWI, but never saw action). Meanwhile, the grandfather of another family member's DNA match was a Horse Shoer in WWI for an artillery company at Meuse–Argonne. Later my father would enlist two weeks after Pearl Harbor at age 16 (his service was activated a month after he turned 17), fight at Okinawa and was posted to Bavaria once the war ended. I don't know when he was assigned to Military Intelligence (the juicy parts are still less than 60 years past), but I know he learned Arabic, attended Diplomacy 101 and served in Saudi Arabia in the mid 1960s. This is a long way of saying Thank You! for repeating the history of oil the way my dad explained it decades ago. I'm just going to refer friends to Daniel Yergin when I attempt to explain oil politics. ;)