The Oil Machine explores our economic, historical and emotional entanglement with oil by looking at the conflicting imperatives around North Sea oil. This invisible machine at the core of our economy and society now faces an uncertain future as activists and investors demand change. Is this the end of oil?

By highlighting the complexities of how oil is embedded in our society—from high finance to cheap consumer goods—The Oil Machine brings together a wide range of voices from oil company executives, economists, young activists, pension fund managers and considers how this machine can be tamed, dismantled, or repurposed.

We have five to ten years to control our oil addiction, and yet the licensing of new oil fields continues in direct contradiction with the Paris Climate Agreement. This documentary looks at how the drama of global climate action is playing out in the fight over North Sea oil.

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"We are indeed living within 'the oil machine,' not only through our use of oil and gas for fuels, but our increasing reliance on oil-based products...Clearly this cannot continue, and the only real choice is between making an alternative design or continuing on the present pathway of systemic collapse." Chris Rhodes, Post Carbon Institute, Resilience