The Uranium Club: Big Oil's Involvement in Uranium Mining and the Formation of an Infamous Uranium Cartel

Abstract

The diversification of "Big Oil" into uranium mining was a product of a long, entangled history of both the oil and uranium industries. By focussing on the story of the formation of an infamous international cartel allocating the uranium prices during the 1970s, this article explores the controversial role Gulf Oil Corporation played in the uranium mining industry. It argues that Gulf Oil’s contribution to the cartel was mainly shaped by the geographical positioning of their uranium mines and the developing knowledge and technologies in the competing oil industry that helped create new economically viable uranium deposits. In this way, this article shows by combining Science and Technology Studies and Business History that the Western oil industry was not a one monolithic entity trying to "sabotage" the development of nuclear energy, but a mutually competitive market where new technologies and knowledge easily spilled over to other energy sectors.