America Has Oil on the Brain

Americans buy ten thousand gallons of gasoline a second, without giving it much of a thought. Where does it come from? How far does it travel? Why does it cost so much? Who’s making money along the way?

Lisa Margonelli traveled thousands of miles from her local gas station to oil fields half a world away. Along the way she stopped at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the New York Mercantile Exchange’s crude oil market, oil fields from Venezuela to Texas, to Chad, and even an Iranian oil platform. I jokingly call her book, Fast Fuel Nation. She calls it Oil on the Brain.


I spoke with Lisa about her book, the economy of gas stations, and how oil money can hurt a developing country like Chad.

AlterNet