Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2017

Spikes and Shocks

The Financialisation of the Oil Market from 1980 to the Present Day

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Offers an analysis of the increasing role and influence of financial actors and financial motives on oil markets
  • Provides a timely contribution to the fields of oil economics, financial economics, socio-economics and sociology of finance
  • Challenges mainstream critiques of the nature of oil markets

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
  2. Introduction

    • Angelos Gkanoutas-Leventis
    Pages 1-9
  3. Conceptualising Financialisation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11
    2. The History of the Oil Market until the 1980s

      • Angelos Gkanoutas-Leventis
      Pages 13-22
    3. The Many Faces of Financialisation

      • Angelos Gkanoutas-Leventis
      Pages 23-37
  4. The Three Phases of Oil Financialisation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 63-63
    2. Oil Products and Oil-Based Financial Products

      • Angelos Gkanoutas-Leventis
      Pages 65-68
    3. Oil Shocks as Barometers of the Financialisation Process

      • Angelos Gkanoutas-Leventis
      Pages 69-75
  5. Financialisation of Oil Market and Evolution of Oil Market’s Actor Structure

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 107-107
    2. Financialisation of the Oil Market: The Four-Actor Structure

      • Angelos Gkanoutas-Leventis
      Pages 109-137
    3. Epilogue

      • Angelos Gkanoutas-Leventis
      Pages 139-149
  6. Back Matter

    Pages 151-157

About this book

This book proposes that price volatility and speculation in the oil market originate from a decades-long process of financialisation. The author challenges mainstream critical accounts of the market that typically invoke the notion of a global oil shortage and so-called ‘peak oil’ arguments. Instead, he argues that the development of the market has been punctuated by recurring oil price shocks. Chapters examine the evolution of the international oil market and investigate how, and to what effect, the process of financialisation has transformed the structure and dynamics of the global oil market from 1980 to the present day.  In doing so, the book suggests that the process of financialisation is both the cause and the proof of a profound change in the structure of the global oil market, that has turned the triangle of producers, consumers, and mediators that characterised the oil market until the 1980s into a four-tier structure through the addition of financial actors.

Authors and Affiliations

  • London, United Kingdom

    Angelos Gkanoutas-Leventis

About the author

Angelos Gkanoutas-Leventis is a political economist with commercial experience working for national and international oil companies. He is very active in the development of the hydrocarbon industry in the South East Mediterranean, having founded the Greek Energy Forum. He is also a member of the City Political Economy Research Centre (CITYPERC). 


Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Spikes and Shocks

  • Book Subtitle: The Financialisation of the Oil Market from 1980 to the Present Day

  • Authors: Angelos Gkanoutas-Leventis

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59461-7

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London

  • eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-59460-0Published: 28 December 2016

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-59461-7Published: 20 December 2016

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 157

  • Number of Illustrations: 4 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Capital Markets, Financial History, Economic History, Investments and Securities

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access