Even though we may not be paying attention, oil always flows through the subsoil of our lives, as a fundamental element of most activities we carry out. But from time to time, it abandons its discretion and becomes part of the news headlines, never for a good cause. Today we are once again living through one of those periods when information about the price of crude oil torments us and threatens our way of life. Black gold has been the great fuel of capitalist society since the second half of the 19th century, but while today the big players are faceless multinationals, for many decades those who made and unmade things in this sector were well-known figures, such as Jean Baptiste August Kessler.