Synopsis
From the moment we first drilled for oil, we opened a Pandora's box that changed the world forever. It transformed the way we lived our lives, spawned foreign wars and turned a simple natural resource into the most powerful political weapon the world has ever known. But when exactly did geology turn into such a high-stakes game?
- Programme: Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered The World
- Episode: 1
- Channel: BBC Four
- Broadcast year: 2017
- Geography | Energy and Resources | Non-renewable and renewable energy | Non-renewable energy: fossil fuels
Licence: ERA Licence required
Free to watch for UK schools, colleges and universities with an ERA Licence
UK only
Staff and students of licensed education establishments only
Cannot be adapted
Add Notes
More clips from Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered The World
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
Professor Iain Stewart explains the natural process in which over millions of years oil is formed.
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
Professor Iain Stewart explains the natural process in which over millions of years oil is formed.
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
Professor Iain Stewart explains the natural process in which over millions of years oil is formed.
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
Professor Iain Stewart explains the natural process in which over millions of years oil is formed.
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
Professor Iain Stewart explains the natural process in which over millions of years oil is formed.
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
Professor Iain Stewart explains the natural process in which over millions of years oil is formed.
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
Professor Iain Stewart explains the natural process in which over millions of years oil is formed.
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
How is oil formed? | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
Professor Iain Stewart explains the natural process in which over millions of years oil is formed.
More resources about Resources and Energy
Fashion's Dirty Secrets | Stacey Dooley
Fashion's Dirty Secrets | Stacey Dooley
Stacey Dooley uncovers the shocking environmental impact caused by an insatiable appetite for cheap clothing.
03: Food, Fire and Water | Supersized Earth
03: Food, Fire and Water | Supersized Earth
Dallas Campbell examines what it takes to keep seven billion humans alive with food, energy and water.
Amazon deforestation | Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
Amazon deforestation | Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
Liz Bonnin witnesses the devastation of the Amazon rainforest from the sky.
Episode 1 | Hugh's War on Waste
Episode 1 | Hugh's War on Waste
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall wants to find out why the UK wastes so much food. He challenges supermarkets to drastically reduce the amount of ...
Fracking: The New Energy Rush | Horizon
Fracking: The New Energy Rush | Horizon
Iain Stewart investigates a controversial energy rush for the natural gas found deep underground, sometimes right under the places pe...
Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
From colossal farms in America to the destruction of the Amazon, Liz Bonnin investigates how our hunger for meat is killing our planet.
Episode 2 | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered The World
Episode 2 | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered The World
Professor Iain Stewart looks back at the 1950s, a time when the oil and gas fields of the Middle East became a ...
Episode 1 | Future of Food
Episode 1 | Future of Food
George Alagiah travels the world to reveal a growing global food crisis. He investigates population growth, climate change, water shortages and wh...
Energy | Bang Goes The Theory
Energy | Bang Goes The Theory
Jem Stansfield, Liz Bonnin and Maggie Philbin investigate how close Britain might get to running out of electricity.
Episode 2 | Scandinavia with Simon Reeve
Episode 2 | Scandinavia with Simon Reeve
The second leg of Simon's journey takes him from the stunning fjords of Norway to Iceland - the original land of fire and ice.
03: Laying the Foundations | Building the Olympic Dream
03: Laying the Foundations | Building the Olympic Dream
With nine billion pounds to spend on creating an Olympic Park, London 2012's bosses face some big challenges.
04: Wind | Powering Britain
04: Wind | Powering Britain
Keeley Donovan heads 75 miles off the Yorkshire coast to see the building of Hornsea One, which is currently the world's biggest offshore windfarm.
Crop to Shop: Jimmy's Supermarket Secrets
Crop to Shop: Jimmy's Supermarket Secrets
Jimmy Doherty explores the global logistics that bring fresh food from around the world to a shop near you, and uncovers the scienc...
Fracking | The One Show
Fracking | The One Show
The One Show visits a village in Yorkshire where the townsfolk have protested fracking in their local area, but have come up with a solution.
Fruit and Veg | What Britain Buys and Sells in a Day
Fruit and Veg | What Britain Buys and Sells in a Day
Ed Balls, Ade Adepitan and Cherry Healey delve into the hectic world of Britain's imports and exports. Ed is at London G...
01: Biomass | Powering Britain
01: Biomass | Powering Britain
Keeley Donovan takes a behind-the-scenes look at Drax near Selby, which is Britain's biggest power station.
04: Canada | Arctic with Bruce Parry
04: Canada | Arctic with Bruce Parry
Bruce travels to the far north of Canada to live with the Caribou people and witness their annual spring hunt. He then heads south to th...
Greenhouse effect | Making Scotland's Landscape
Greenhouse effect | Making Scotland's Landscape
An experiment that demonstrates the greenhouse effect.
Why are we Still Searching for Fossil Fuels? | Panorama
Why are we Still Searching for Fossil Fuels? | Panorama
Richard Bilton investigates why oil, coal and gas exploration is booming when almost every country in the world has c...
Animal feed production | Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
Animal feed production | Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
Liz Bonnin explores the impact that animal feed production is having on insect biodiversity.
More from Iain Stewart
01: Deep Earth | How Earth Made Us
01: Deep Earth | How Earth Made Us
Series telling the story of how the development of civilisation was influenced by planetary forces. Professor Iain Stewart explores the ro...
05: Rare Earth | Earth: The Power of the Planet
05: Rare Earth | Earth: The Power of the Planet
Life on Earth prospers because it enjoys the right amount of heat from the sun, and the atmosphere prevents meteorite bombard...
North Sea oil | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
North Sea oil | Planet Oil: The Treasure That Conquered the World
Professor Iain Stewart investigates the discovery of North Sea oil.
02: Australia | Rise of the Continents
02: Australia | Rise of the Continents
Iain Stewart explores how the Earth's continents have transformed evolution. He shows how Australia's journey has affected everything ...
Iceland Erupts: A Volcano Live Special | Volcano Live
Iceland Erupts: A Volcano Live Special | Volcano Live
Kate Humble heads to Iceland and meets the scientists monitoring the country's most dangerous volcanoes. She also inves...
02: The Power Of Flowers | How To Grow A Planet
02: The Power Of Flowers | How To Grow A Planet
In the second episode, Iain discovers how flowers have transformed our planet. He journeys to the remote islands of the South...
04: Scotland's Water | Making Scotland's Landscape
04: Scotland's Water | Making Scotland's Landscape
Professor Iain Stewart reveals how Scotland's unique landscape was shaped. Here, the story of how Scotland's waters became...
03: The Big Freeze | Men of Rock
03: The Big Freeze | Men of Rock
In the final episode of the series, Iain Stewart finds out about daredevil scientist Louis Agassiz, who first imagined the world had been gr...
The Worst Avalanche In History | 10 Things You Didn't Know About...
The Worst Avalanche In History | 10 Things You Didn't Know About...
The worst avalanche in history occurred in 1970 in Peru, when an underwater earthquake triggered a glacia...
Monitoring Mount Merapi (Part 1) | Journeys into the Ring of Fire
Monitoring Mount Merapi (Part 1) | Journeys into the Ring of Fire
Iain Stewart visits the team that is constantly monitoring the biggest volcano in Indonesia, Mount Merapi.