Oil is the lifeblood of modern industrial economies. Petroleum powers virtually all motorized transport, which in turn enables most economic activities and provides mobility for citizens. But oil is a finite resource that is steadily depleting. In the past decade, the phenomenon of global peak oil - the fact that annual world oil production must at some point reach a maximum and then decline - has emerged as one of the twenty-first century's greatest challenges. South Africa imports over two-thirds of its petroleum fuels, and history has shown that oil price shocks generally translate into a weakening currency, rising consumer prices, increasing joblessness and a slow-down in economic activity. This book examines the implications of peak oil for socioeconomic welfare in South Africa and proposes a wide range of strategies and policies for mitigating and adapting to the likely impacts. It contains a wealth of data in tables and figures that illustrate South Africa's oil dependencies and vulnerabilities to oil shocks. The material is presented from a systems perspective and is organized in key thematic areas including energy, transport, agriculture, macro-economy and society. The study highlights the risks, uncertainties and difficult choices South Africa faces if it is to tackle its oil addiction, and thereby serves as an example for researchers, planners and policy-makers in the developing world who will sooner or later confront similar challenges. This case study brings a fresh southern perspective to an issue of global importance, and shows how the era of flattening and then declining global oil supplies may be a pivotal period in which either the project of industrialization progressively runs out of steam, or societies are able to undertake a proactive transition to a more sustainable future.

The modern financial system was developed to support the rapid economic growth that took off about 200 years ago with the phenomenal amounts of cheap energy made available through the exploitation of fossil fuels. As a result, its viability is completely dependent upon the continuation of that growth. Unfortunately, the more recent fossil fuel discoveries, especially for oil, have tended to have lower production levels than earlier ones. In addition, greater amounts of energy are required to extract the fossil fuels leading to less net energy available for society. The Energy Return On Investment (EROI) for oil has fallen from 30:1 in the 1970's to 10:1 today. Thus, newer energy finds produce lower extraction rates and more of the energy provided is offset by the energy used in the extraction processes. The result has been economic stagnation or even contraction, with growth in China and India etc. only possible due to the extensive use of local coal reserves, and recession-induced drops in OECD country energy use. Renewable sources of energy will not be able to expand fast enough to replace the 87% of energy supplies provided by fossil fuels, and apart from hydro and wind, tend to have very low EROI rates. They are also critically dependent upon the cheap energy infrastructure provided by fossil fuels. The phenomenal amounts of path-dependent energy infrastructure will also greatly inhibit any move away from fossil fuels.

Without continued economic growth there will not be the extra output to fund loan interest payments, nor the revenue and profit growth to support share price/earnings multiples. The financial system acts as a time machine, creating asset prices based upon perceptions of the future. As an increasing percentage of investors come to accept the future reality of at best, financial asset prices will fall to reflect a realistic future. The resulting crash will remove the underpinnings of the banking, brokerage, mutual fund, pension fund, and insurance industries. The comfortable futures of many will be shown to have been based upon a mirage of future growth that will not take place. With the financial system acting as the critical coordination system of the global economy, its crash will also intensify economic problems. Written by a retired financial industry executive with over 25 years of experience, this book describes how the crisis will affect different regions and industries to help identify the career and investment choices which may provide a relative safe harbour.

Assuming no mathematical or chemistry knowledge, this book introduces complete beginners to the field of petroleum engineering. Written in a straightforward style, the author takes a practical approach to the subject avoiding complex mathematics to achieve a text that is robust without being intimidating. Covering traditional petroleum engineering topics, readers of this book will learn about the formation and characteristics of petroleum reservoirs, the chemical properties of petroleum, the processes involved in the exploitation of reservoirs, post-extraction processing, industrial safety, and the long-term outlook for the oil and gas production. The descriptions and discussions are informed by considering the production histories of several fields including the Ekofisk field in the North Sea, the Wyburn Field in Canada, the Manifa Field in Saudi Arabia and the Wilmington Field off the Californian Coast. The factors leading up to the well blowouts on board the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Mantara Field in the Timor Sea are also examined. With a glossary to explain key words and concepts, this book is a perfect introduction for newcomers to a petroleum engineering course, as well as non-specialists in industry. Professor David Shallcross is one of the foremost practitioners in chemical engineering education worldwide. Readers of this book will find his previous book, Chemical Engineering Explained, a useful companion.

The book is an up-to-date basic reference for natural gas hydrate (NGH) in the Arctic Ocean. Geographical, geological, environmental, energy, new technology, and regulatory matters are discussed. The book should be of interest to general readers and scientists and students as well as industry and government agencies concerned with energy and ocean management. NGH is a solid crystalline material that compresses gas by about a factor of about 164 during crystallization from natural gas (mainly methane) - rich pore waters over time. NGH displaces water and may form large concentrations in sediment pore space. Its formation introduces changes in the geotechnical character of host sediment that allows it to be distinguished by seismic and electric exploration methods. The chemical reaction that forms NGH from gas and water molecules is highly reversible, which allows controlled conversion of the NGH to its constituent gas and water. This can be achieved rapidly by one of a number of processes including heating, depressurization, inhibitor injection, dissolution, and molecular replacement. The produced gas has the potential to make NGH a valuable unconventional natural gas resource, and perhaps the largest on earth. Estimates for NGH distribution, concentration, economic targets, and volumes in the Arctic Ocean have been carried out by restricting the economic target to deepwater turbidite sands, which are also sediment hosts for more deeply buried conventional hydrocarbon deposits. Resource base estimates are based on NGH petroleum system analysis approach using industry-standard parameters along with analogs from three relatively well known examples (Nankai-Japan, Gulf of Mexico-United States, and Arctic permafrost hydrate). Drilling data has substantiated new geotechnical-level seismic analysis techniques for estimating not just the presence of NGH but prospect volumes. In addition to a volumetric estimate for NGH having economic potential, a sedimentary depositional model is proposed to aid exploration in the five different regions around the deep central Arctic Ocean basin. Related topics are also discussed. Transport and logistics for NGH may also be applicable for stranded conventional gas and oil deposits. Arising from a discussion of new technology and methodologies that could be applied to developing NGH, suggestions are made for the lowering of exploration and capital expenses that could make NGH competitive on a produced cost basis. The basis for the extraordinarily low environmental risk for exploration and production of NGH is discussed, especially with respect to the environmentally fragile Arctic region. It is suggested that because of the low environmental risk, special regulations could be written that would provide a framework for very low cost and safe development.

This book focuses on oilfield performance analysis and development adjustment by integrating geology, applied mathematics, and other relevant theories. Based on the abundant and detailed field test and production data from Daqing and Tarim, two major oilfields in China, the regularities, characteristics, design, and adjustment of waterflooding development of sandstone reservoirs throughout the life cycle are described. Field development theories and practices are organically combined in this book, which, embracing comprehensive, systematic, and pragmatic contents, is conducive to development technicians to quickly grasp the characteristics of waterflooding and prepare adjustment plans. It is also useful as a textbook in petroleum colleges and short training courses.

This book highlights recent advancements in such an important topic, through contribution from experts demonstrating different applications in 'day-to-day' life, both existing and newly emerging non-biological technologies, and thought provoking approaches from different parts of the world, potential future prospects associated with some frontier development in non-conventional energy sources. It covers different types of natural energy sources such as: Ocean, Tidal and Wave energy; Nuclear energy; Solar cells; Geothermal energy; Hydrogen Fuel; Photovoltaic modules; Gas hydrates; Hydrate-based Desalination Technology; and Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Kraft Lignin/ Lignocellulosic Biomass to Fuels and Chemicals. This book is a comprehensive and informative compilation for international readers, especially undergraduate and post graduate students and researchers.

This book is a compilation of selected papers from the 5th International Petroleum and Petrochemical Technology Conference (IPPTC 2021). The work focuses on petroleum & petrochemical technologies and practical challenges in the field. It creates a platform to bridge the knowledge gap between China and the world. The conference not only provides a platform to exchanges experience but also promotes the development of scientific research in petroleum & petrochemical technologies. The book will benefit a broad readership, including industry experts, researchers, educators, senior engineers and managers.

The opportunity of repowering the existing condensing power stations by means of gas turbogenerators offers an important opportunity to considerably improvement of their energy efficiency. The Modernization Potential of Gas turbines in the Coal-Fired Power Industry presents the methodology, calculation procedures and tools used to support enterprise planning for adapting power stations to dual-fuel gas-steam combined-cycle technologies. Both the conceptual and practical aspects of the conversion of existing coal-fired power plants is covered. Discussions of the feasibility, advantages and disadvantages and possible methods are supported by chapters presenting equations of energy efficiency for the conditions of repowering a power unit by installing a gas turbogenerator in a parallel system and the results of technical calculations involving the selection heating structures of heat recovery steam generators. A methodology for analyzing thermodynamic and economic effectiveness for the selection of a structure of the heat recovery steam generator for the repowered power unit is also explained. The Modernization Potential of Gas turbines in the Coal-Fired Power Industry is an informative monograph written for researchers, postgraduate students and policy makers in power engineering.

According to the conventional wisdom, we live in a post-industrial information age. This book, however, paints a different picture: We live in the age of oil. Petroleum fuels and feedstocks are responsible for much of what we take for granted in modern society, from chemical products such as fertilizer and plastics, to the energy that moves people and goods in a global economy. Oil is a nearly perfect fuel: Energy dense, safe to store, easy to transport, and mostly environmentally benign. Most importantly, oil has been cheap and abundant during the past 150 years. In 1998, two respected geologists, Colin Campbell and Jean Laherrere, published a detailed article announcing that the "end of cheap oil" would happen before 2010, which meant that the world would face a peak, or at least a plateau, in global daily oil production in the first decade of the new millennium. Today, two billion people under the age of 14 have lived the majority of their lives past the point when this century-long growth in oil supplies came to an end, which also marks the end of the first half of the age of oil. This transition has ushered in a new reality of high oil prices, stagnating oil supplies, and sluggish economies. In this book, a leading authority on energy explores the contributions and continuing legacy of Colin Campbell and Jean Laherrere, the two geologists who modified the terms of the debate about oil. The book provides a unique perspective and state-of-the-art overview of today's energy reality and its enormous economic and social implications. - Covers a topic that eclipses climate change as the most important but least understood challenge for contemporary society - Explores the works of Colin Campbell and Jean Laherrere, the leading authorities in the field of Peak Oil, authors of "The End of Cheap Oil" (Scientific American, 1998), and founding members of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas - Addresses a broad audience of scientists, engineers, and economists in a format that is accessible to the general public - Provides a complete overview of the basic geological, chemical, physical, economic and historical concepts that every oil consumer should understand - Presents the latest information on oil production, reserves, discoveries, prices, and fields in easy-to-understand graphs and plots

"The Chinese Oil Industry: History and Future" presents a wealth of tables and figures with new data on Chinese fossil fuel production and consumption, together with a peak oil model to forecast future trends in energy supply and demand. Energy experts in China and the United States provide you with a unique overview of the entire Chinese oil industry. The authors discuss trends in production and consumption of global significance through to the middle of the 21st century, including the energy returned on energy invested (EROI) for China s oil and gas.

The role of oil in the industrialization of China is described as arefour phases in the history of the Chinese oil industry. Detailed coverage of resources and exploration, pipeline development, refining and marketing, petroleum and natural gas pricing policies, and international cooperation is followed by consideration of conservation, renewable energy, and environmental impact. The authors also address the importance of coal and the probable future of coal production.
- Offers a comprehensive view of theChinese oil industry

- Presents new and previously unpublished data

- Covers history and future trends in production and consumption

- Introduces a new peak oil model for China

- Discusses EROI trend of oil and natural gas and its consequences for the Chinese economy

- Written from an objective viewpoint by leading energy experts"

In this volume, Professor He and his coworkers summarize polyethylene glycol (PEG)-promoted CO2 chemistry on the basis of understanding about phase behavior of PEG/CO2 system and reaction mechanism at molecular level. As PEG could be utilized as a green replacement for organic solvents, phase-transfer catalyst, surfactant, support in various reaction systems, significantly promoting catalytic activity and recovering expensive metal catalysts, particularly regarded as a CO2-philic material, the authors focus on special applications of PEG in CO2 capture and utilization, including PEG-functionalized catalysts for efficient transformation of CO2 and PEG-functionalized absorbents for efficient CO2 capture. Furthermore, they describe carbon capture and utilization strategy as an alternative approach to address the energy penalty problem in carbon capture and storage. Interestingly, the authors also discuss PEG radical chemistry in dense CO2 as rather creative and unusual use of PEG, presumably serves as a reaction medium and a radical initiator for radical chemistry.

The Palgrave Handbook of Natural Gas and Global Energy Transitions provides an in-depth and authoritative examination of the transformative implications of the ongoing global energy transitions for natural gas markets across the world. With case studies from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, South America, Australia, and the Middle East, the volume introduces readers to the latest legal, policy, technological, and fiscal innovations in natural gas markets in response to ongoing global energy transitions. It outlines the risk mitigation strategies and contractual techniques - focusing on resilience planning, low-carbon business models, green procurement, climate-smart infrastructure development, accountability, gender justice, and other sustainability safeguards - that are required to maximize the full value of natural gas as a catalyst for a just and equitable energy transition and for energy security across the world. Written in an accessible style, this book outlines the guiding principles for a responsible and low-carbon approach to the design, financing, and implementation of natural gas development and commercialization. It is an indispensable text and reference work for students, scholars, practitioners, and stakeholders in natural gas, energy, infrastructure, and environmental investments and projects.

In the first edition of this book, we observed that it had been created to fill a need for a usable "self-contained volume on hydrodynamics" (and hydrogeology) that was written specifically for the petroleum industry, but could also serve the earth science community in general. When the first edition was published (1982), M. K. Hubbert, the father of petroleum hydrodynamics, was approaching the final stages of his very productive career. For this reason, the book served as a vehicle to amplify his concepts and spread and stimulate applications of some of his theories and methods throughout the exploration sectors of the petroleum industry. This was accomplished by blending discussions of Hubbert's concepts with some of the procedures used by industry specialists to answer practical oil and gas questions. The simple aim of the book was to bring this material to the fingertips of working geologists and geophysicists, who were "evaluating the hydrocarbon possibilities in larger exploration regions or assessing the potential of small, local subsurface oil and gas prospects. " It was also hoped that by treating areas of conceptual overlap between petroleum geology and ground water hydrology, workers in both disciplines would be brought into closer contact, resulting in mutual benefits gained through healthy scientific and technical interaction. This remains our objective in the second edition, although it has become apparent that additional material is needed to satisfactorily achieve it. The size of this volume reflects the new subject matter.

This book delves into the economic development of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Since the 1960s, the GCC states have harnessed their potential to exploit the wealth accrued from the oil boom to build their infrastructure and grow their economies. However, the high level of dependency on oil as the primary source feeding their output made their economies volatile and vulnerable to fluctuations in the global oil prices. Moreover, the plunge in oil prices and the threat of depletion of this natural resource pose serious challenges to the GCC countries. Consequently, the GCC governments have realized the importance of diversifying their economies following the need to move away from reliance on hydrocarbon. This book contributes to the theoretical literature by enriching the debate on the transition of the GCC countries from rentier states to diversified economies. It helps students and scholars understand this transformation with an expansive comprehension of the contemporary challenges facing the region, as well as outlining prospects for the future.

This book discusses the art and science of economic decision making. It combines logical thinking with analytics, economics, and finance to draw decision insights for the upstream petroleum projects. The book offers useful analysis skills for practitioners in industry, including analysts, engineers, and managers. In addition, advanced undergraduate and graduate students in petroleum engineering, applied petroleum geoscience, industrial engineering, and energy business would benefit from the discussions in this book.

Review of the second edition "For geologists and geophysicists studying sedimentary fill of basins, this volume is a valuable addition to their shelves. The book is packed with informationincludes numerous lists of references, and is up-to-date. As a source volume, this book is second to none. It is clear and well organized." GEOPHYSICS

The first edition of this book demystified the process of well log analysis for students, researchers and practitioners. In the two decades since, the industry has changed enormously: technical staffs are smaller, and hydrocarbons are harder to locate, quantify, and produce. New drilling techniques have engendered new measurement devices incorporated into the drilling string. Corporate restructuring and the "graying" of the workforce have caused a scarcity in technical competence involved in the search and exploitation of petroleum. The updated 2nd Edition reviews logging measurement technology developed in the last twenty years, and expands the petrophysical applications of the measurements.

A classic work in the history of science, and described as “a good book on rocket stuff…that’s a really fun one� by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, readers will want to get their hands on this influential classic, available for the first time in decades.   This newly reissued debut book in the Rutgers University Press Classics imprint is the story of the search for a rocket propellant which could be trusted to take man into space. This search was a hazardous enterprise carried out by rival labs who worked against the known laws of nature, with no guarantee of success or safety. Acclaimed scientist and sci-fi author John Drury Clark writes with irreverent and eyewitness immediacy about the development of the explosive fuels strong enough to negate the relentless restraints of gravity. The resulting volume is as much a memoir as a work of history, sharing a behind-the-scenes view of an enterprise which eventually took men to the moon, missiles to the planets, and satellites to outer space.  

This book focuses on gasoline compression ignition (GCI) which offers the prospect of engines with high efficiency and low exhaust emissions at a lower cost. A GCI engine is a compression ignition (CI) engine which is run on gasoline-like fuels (even on low-octane gasoline), making it significantly easier to control particulates and NOx but with high efficiency. The state of the art development to make GCI combustion feasible on practical vehicles is highlighted, e.g., on overcoming problems on cold start, high-pressure rise rates at high loads, transients, and HC and CO emissions. This book will be a useful guide to those in academia and industry.

Completions are the conduit between hydrocarbon reservoirs and surface facilities. They are a fundamental part of any hydrocarbon field development project. The have to be designed for safely maximising the hydrocarbon recovery from the well and may have to last for many years under ever changing conditions. Issues include: connection with the reservoir rock, avoiding sand production, selecting the correct interval, pumps and other forms of artificial lift, safety and integrity, equipment selection and installation and future well interventions.

* Course book based on course well completion design by TRACS International
* Unique in its field: Coverage of offshore, subsea, and landbased completions in all of the major hydrocarbon basins of the world.
* Full colour

This book presents a comprehensive introduction to well logging and the inverse problem. It explores challenges such as conventional data processing methods' inability to handle local minima issues, and presents the explanations in an easy-to-follow way. The book describes statistical data interpretation by introducing the fundamentals behind the approach, as well as a range of sampling methods. In each chapter, a specific method is comprehensively introduced, together with representative examples. The book begins with basic information on well logging and logging while drilling, as well as a definition of the inverse problem. It then moves on to discuss the fundamentals of statistical inverse methods, Bayesian inference, and a new sampling method that can be used to supplement it, the hybrid Monte Carlo method. The book then addresses a specific problem in the inversion of downhole logging data, and the interpretation of earth model complexity, before concluding with a meta-technique called the tempering method, which serves as a supplement to statistical sampling methods. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable reference guide for drilling engineers, well logging tool physicists, and geoscientists, as well as students in the areas of petroleum engineering and electrical engineering.

As the case for Climate Change mitigation becomes ever more pressing, hydrogen has the potential to play a major role in a low-carbon energy future. Hydrogen can drive the vehicles of tomorrow and also heat homes and supply energy to businesses. Much recent discussion in energy policy circles has considered ways in which greatly expanded electrification can meet the demand for low-carbon mobility and heating. Such narratives centre on the widespread use of renewable energy sources with occasionally surplus renewable electricity being used to produce hydrogen, for example by electrolysis. While such developments have a beneficial role to play, this book focuses on an alternative paradigm. This book considers a more evolutionary path involving the continued extraction and use of fossil fuels, most notably natural gas, but in ways that greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this way much established industrial capacity and know how might be transitioned to help deliver the low carbon future that the world so desperately requires. Presenting up-to-date energy policy recommendations with a focus on hydrogen from fossil fuels, the book will be of considerable interest to policymakers and energy researchers in academia, industry and government labs, while also offering a valuable reference guide for business developers in low-carbon energy, and for oil and gas industry analysts.

What happens when fossil fuels run out? How do communities and cultures survive? Central Appalachia and South Wales were built to extract coal, and faced with coal's decline, both regions have experienced economic depression, labor unrest, and out-migration. After Coal focuses on coalfield residents who chose not to leave, but instead remained in their communities and worked to build a diverse and sustainable economy. It tells the story of four decades of exchange between two mining communities on opposite sides of the Atlantic, and profiles individuals and organizations that are undertaking the critical work of regeneration. The stories in this book are told through interviews and photographs collected during the making of After Coal, a documentary film produced by the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University and directed by Tom Hansell. Considering resonances between Appalachia and Wales in the realms of labor, environment, and movements for social justice, the book approaches the transition from coal as an opportunity for marginalized people around the world to work toward safer and more egalitarian futures.