DIIS book shortlisted for Africa-Asia Book Prize

DIIS senior researcher Luke Patey’s book, The New Kings of Crude: China, India, and the Global Struggle for Oil in Sudan and South Sudan, has been shortlisted for the Africa-Asia Book Prize. The prize is awarded by the International Convention of Asian Scholars and the Association of Asian Studies in Africa for academic books in the field of Africa-Asian Studies between 2009 and 2015. The prize will be awarded at the Inaugural A-ASIA Conference in Accra, Ghana, on 24-26 September 2015.

The New Kings of Crude has received popular and scholarly attention and acclaim from The Economist, the Business Strandard, China Quarterly, African Affairs, and the Cambridge Review of Internaitonal Affairs, among other publications:

‘As Mr Patey writes, despite worsening returns and growing unease, Sudan remains the “largest overseas achievement” of the state-owned oil companies of both China and India. […] Patey’s book has pen-portraits of the individuals who spearheaded and maintained exploration programmes in Sudan, … the “new kings of crude” [who] may yet have a role in trying to quell the violence in the two Sudans.’ — The Economist

‘The New Kings of Crude is a clear-eyed account of the machinations of the newest players in the global oil business… Patey sketches deft portraits of the principal personalities and institutions that shaped the development of the petroleum sector in Sudan, China and India.’ — Business Standard

‘An important, rigorously researched and fully documented book …[that]will undoubtedly become the standard reference text for those interested in the history and evolution of the oil industry in Sudan and South Sudan and the implications it has for the political economy of those countries… the latter part of the book reads more like a thriller [than]a detailed history book, engaging and absorbing the reader in the complexities it illuminates.’ — Pádraig Carmody, China Quarterly

‘This is a readable book, … Patey’s core message is surely a sound one: “China” and “India” are not monolithic actors; even state corporations have their own internal dynamics, and their own interests, and have limited leverage over the sovereign governments with which they deal. The new “kings of crude” rest uneasily on their thrones.’ — Justin Willis, Durham University, African Affairs.

‘Patey tells a complex story very well. Incredibly well researched and grounded in a prodigious number of newspapers and journal articles, industry publications, interviews and other sources, the book successfully combines the stories of various actors, highlighting the importance of non-state forces in international politics. … The New Kings of Crude makes several major contributions to the understanding of the Chinese and Indian NOCs and their role in the rise of the two emerging powers.’ — Cambridge Review of International Affairs