Great write-up, really piqued my interest in Rockefeller. Any good reads you can recommend?
It runs against the conventional story of SO being an inevitable monopoly.
Their main competition was from Russia oddly enough.
Above and beyond that, simply as a history of the most important substance in all of human history beyond sheer biological necessities, it's utterly fascinating. It's principally through Yergin's work that I came to pretty much diametrically opposite conclusions of the future of energy from his.
Thanks for the heads-up.