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Max Pearson presents a collection of this week\\u2019s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.

To mark 50 years since the global oil crisis, we\\u2019re focusing on oil - from discovery to disaster. We hear from Dr Fadhil Chalabi, then the deputy secretary general of Opec (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) about what happened during the 1973 crisis.

Our guest Helen Thompson, Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University, explains why oil became the lifeblood of industrial economies during the last two centuries. We also learn how Kazakhstan signed \\u2018the deal of the century\\u2019 to become a fossil fuel powerhouse thanks to the Tengiz Oil Field.

Plus, why in 1956, not everyone welcomed the discovery of oil in the Nigerian village of Oloibiri. We find out more about the devastating impact of one of the world\\u2019s largest oil spills - when the Amoco Cadiz tanker ran aground off the coast of France in 1978. The wreck released more than 220,000 tonnes of crude oil into the sea.

And finally, how an indigenous community in the Ecuadorian Amazon fought a court battle to protect their land from oil drilling \\u2013 and won.

Contributors:\\nDr Fadhil Chalabi \\u2013 former deputy secretary general of Opec\\nProfessor Helen Thompson - Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University\\nBruce Pannier - Central Asia news correspondent\\nChief Sunday Inengite \\u2013 chief of Oloibiri, Nigeria\\nMarguerite Lamour \\u2013 former secretary to Alphonse Arzel, the mayor of Ploudalm\\xe9zeau in France\\nJose Gualing - former Sarayaku president\\nEna Santi - Sarayaku community leader

(Photo: Oil rig. Credit: Fairfax Media via Getty Images via Getty Images)