The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power - Season 1 (1992)

The key but often overlooked role that oil played in World War II is examined and discussed by war veterans and military historians.

Mideast oil is declared the greatest prize in history, but a prize not easily won. Participants and historians discuss the wooing of Saudi Arabia's Ibn Saud, the creation of Aramco, and the postwar reality that petroleum is political.

The story of oil in the 1950s and '60s. Italy's Enrico Mattei challenges the 'Seven Sisters.' Oil diplomacy in an increasingly volatile Middle East. The creation of OPEC in 1960. Cheap oil fuels America's car culture and suburban sprawl.

The tumultuous years 1971 through 1991 saw shifting power in the oil industry as OPEC commandeered the driver's seat, sparking a global search for new oil sources. 'Oil as a weapon' results in the gas shortages of 1973 and '79.

Is oil a 'sunset industry'? A galvanized environmentalist movement and government regulation pose challenges to the oil industry. The oil industry presses ahead trusting in its customers' continuing love affair with their automobiles.