The exploration of Western Europe's hydrocarbon resources: the politico-economic framework and prospects

Up to the 1950s, the evolution of Western Europe's energy sector, in which coal production and use was preeminent, had been steady and relatively untraumatic. Subsequently it has been replaced by a period of highly dynamic and forceful developments in which long-established structures have been undermined, not only by changing internal circumstances but also by the impact of extern al forces.