XXIInd CISH Congress Specialized Theme (ST21) State, Sovereignty and Technologies, XVIII - XXI c The Geopolitics of Oil Before the American Power Emanuel Sebag de Magalhães 1 ABSTRACT It is common to find studies that highlight the role of oil in the power play of the great powers focusing on the rise of American power and the effective use of oil, from the Second World War, as a fuel of armies. Thus, the foundation of the big U.S. oil corporations and their projection outside the United States in the production and commercialization, up to the last movement of regulation via world oil quotations in their own stock exchanges, are indicated as the initial milestones of the escalating importance of oil in the strategic calculations of the great powers. The geopolitics of oil, however, arises before the American rise and is linked to the outcome of the European imperial struggle that culminated in the First World War. In this sense, we argue the need to look more carefully at the geopolitics of oil in the early twentieth century, emphasizing the conflicting movements between Britain and Russia in the Middle East, particularly in Persia. During the reporting period, this region was the scene of clashes between the powers, and the control over areas with petroliferous potential appears to be in the core of these conflicting movements. It is notorious the foundation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1909 not only as a starting point for the extraction of oil in the Middle East, but also as a sign of the insertion of the region as a board of disputes of the European powers. Therefore, we privilege a perspective of analysis about oil focused on the geopolitical movements that do not necessarily translate into market movements. The focus of this paper is therefore seeking to understand the movements of the States in pursuit of this strategic resource within the context of interstate competition, based on the theoretical perspective of Global Power, from the Brazilian thinker José Luis Fiori. 1 Emanuel Sebag de Magalhães – Bachelor degree in Economic Sciences from the Federal University of Ceará. Presently, Masters Student of International Political Economy at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Member of Viès – Núcleo de Economia Política. E-mail: emanuel.magalhaes@pepi.ie.ufrj.br