Oil has been the driving force and fuel of the 20th century, which, combined with the widespread use of the internal combustion engine, had catalytic effects on the economic and social development of the planet. Thanks to the discoveries of large deposits in the USA, Russia, and the Middle East, and a diverse system of production, refining, distribution, and trade established and operated for many years by major oil companies, oil emerged as the main fuel, contributing significantly to industrialization and technological progress, especially in the second half of the last century.

One of the main themes highlighted in the book is that the major political and economic developments of the planet in recent years revolve around the efforts, visions, and struggles for control and exploitation of essential energy resources, with hydrocarbons at the center, to the extent that it is reasonable to speak of unprecedented economic and political captivity.
Thus, oil in our era is both a necessary and fateful dependency.

In the first volume of this two-volume work, an extensive and very interesting historical reference to the evolution of oil from antiquity to the present is initially attempted.
The main theme of the book refers to the discovery and exploitation of oil in Persia and the Middle East, the prevalence of oil over electrification, the role it played in the outcome of the two great wars, the rise of major oil companies (known as the "Seven Sisters"), and the post-war period of cheap oil, the oil crises of 1973 and 1979, the rise of OPEC, as well as the role that oil plays today in the global economic and social process. A separate chapter answers the question of whether Greece has oil and how it can be exploited.