New applications of horizontal drilling techniques and hydraulic fracturing, in which water, sand, and chemical additives are injected under high pressure to create and maintain fractures in underground formations, allow oil and natural gas from shale formations to be developed. As exploration and development of shale oil and gas have increased, including in areas of the country without a history of oil and natural gas development, questions have been raised about the estimates of the size of these resources, as well as the processes used to extract them. This book examines the environmental and public health requirements, risks, and size of shale resources of unconventional oil and gas development.

High oil prices affect nearly every household and business in the United States. During the course of 2008, oil prices doubled to over $145 per barrel and then fell by 80%. In early 2011, there was a run-up of about 20%, sending gasoline prices to near 2008 highs. This book provides background on financial speculation in oil, the workings of oil derivatives markets, and the different types of firms that trade in those markets. Also discussed are the concepts of manipulation and excessive speculation, and the fundamental factors that affect oil prices.

As president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister was known for being a straight shooter, willing to challenge his peers throughout the industry. Now, he's a man on a mission, the founder of Citizens for Affordable Energy, crisscrossing the country in a grassroots campaign to change the way we look at energy in this country. While pundits proffer false new promises of green energy independence, or flatly deny the existence of a problem, Hofmeister offers an insider's view of what's behind the energy companies' posturing, and how politicians use energy misinformation, disinformation, and lack of information to get and stay elected. He tackles the energy controversy head-on, without regard for political correctness. He also provides a new framework for solving difficult problems, identifying solutions that will lead to a future of comfortable lifestyles, affordable and clean energy, environmental protection, and sustained economic competitiveness.

Oil and natural gas are now acknowledged to be the driving forces of international politics. What has not yet been fully explored is how their delivery affects the geopolitics of the world.
Pipelines, once built, create new diplomatic realities - some states are newly connected, others isolated. Some states benefit economically, others lose out. Often new energy supply routes fall across political fault-lines, as in the case of India and Pakistan. In the case of the former Soviet Union, the existing pipeline network reflects an old political reality, and causes tension between the newly independent states and their former Russian master. With energy demand soaring in industrializing Asia, and the resurgence of great power rivalry, the politics and practicalities of pipelines become central to a proper understanding of world affairs.
In this groundbreaking book, Rafael Kandiyoti takes us along the pipeline networks, from Kandahar to the Caspian basin, from Ceyhan to China, and shows us how they form the foundation of the new geopolitical order. In the process, he demonstrates that the issue of energy supply revolves not only on hydrocarbon resources, but also on their delivery. This is an entirely new way to view the international politics of oil and natural gas and therefore crucial to any explanation of the tensions involving Central Asia, the Middle East, Russia, China, and Europe.

The development of offshore oil, gas and other mineral resources in the United States is impacted by a number of interrelated legal regimes, including international, federal and state laws. International law provides a framework for establishing national ownership or control of offshore areas, and U.S. domestic law has adopted these internationally recognised principles. This book describes the nature of U.S. authority over offshore areas pursuant to international and domestic law and explains the laws, at both the state and federal levels, governing the development of offshore oil and gas and the litigation that has flowed from development under these legal regimes; recent changes to authorities regulating offshore development and legislative proposals concerning offshore oil and natural gas exploration and production.

As feedstocks to refineries change, there must be an accompanying change in refinery technology. This means a movement from conventional means of refining heavy feedstocks using (typically) coking technologies to more innovative processes that will coax the last drips of liquid fuels from the feedstock.
This book presents the evolution of refinery processes during the last century and as well as the means by which refinery processes will evolve during the next three-to-five decades. Chapters contain material relevant to (1) comparisons of current feedstocks with heavy oil and bio-feedstocks; (2) evolution of refineries since the 1950s, (3) properties and refinability of heavy oil and bio-feedstocks, (4) thermal processes vs. hydroprocesses, and (5) evolution of products to match the environmental market.
Process innovations that have influenced refinery processing over the past three decades are presented, as well as the relevant patents that have the potential for incorporation into future refineries.
Comparison of current feedstocks with heavy oil and bio-feedstocks.
Evolution of refineries over the past three decades.
Properties and refinability of heavy oil and bio-feedstocks.
Thermal processes vs. Hydroprocesses.
Evolution of products to match the environmental market.

* Investigates the engineering and plant design challenges presented by heavy oil and bio-feedstocks

* Explores the legislatory and regulatory climate, including increasingly stringent environmental requirements

* Examines the trade-offs of thermal processes vs. hydroprocesses"

Approximately two billion dollars a day of petroleum are traded worldwide, which makes petroleum the largest single item in the balance of payments and exchanges between nations. Petroleum represents the larger share in total energy use for most net exporters and net importers. While petroleum taxes are a major source of income for more than 90 countries in the world, poor countries net importers are more vulnerable to price increases than most industrialized economies. This paper has five chapters. Chapter one describes the key features of upstream, midstream, and downstream petroleum operations and how these may impact value creation and policy options. Chapter two draws on ample literature and discusses how changes in the geopolitical and global economic environment and in the host governments' political and economic priorities have affected the rationale for and behavior of National Oil Companies' (NOCs). Rather than providing an in-depth analysis of the philosophical reasons for creating aNOC, this chapter seeks to highlight the special nature of NOCs and how it may affect their existence, objectives, regulation, and behavior. Chapter three proposes a value creation index to measure the contribution of NOCs to social value creation. A conceptual model is also proposed to identify the factors that affect value creation. Chapter four presents the result of an exploratory statistical analysis aimed to determine the relative importance of the drivers of value creation. In addition, the experience of a selected sample of NOCs is analyzed in detail, and lessons of general applicability are derived. Finally, Chapter five summarizes the conclusions.

Over the past several years, gasoline prices have risen well above their historic average. In many parts of the United States, gasoline prices were above $3 per gallon for much of 2007. Although consumers in the past did not respond very much to small fluctuations in the price of gasoline, the recent large increases have led many people to make adjustments, for example, in the way they drive and in the kinds of vehicles they buy. This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study, prepared at the request of the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, relates rising gasoline prices to changes in how fast people drive, the volume of highway traffic, and rail transit ridership. It also examines the effects on market shares, fuel economy, and pricing of cars and light trucks purchased over the past several years. With the world-wide price of oil continuing to rise, this book provides an indication of the kinds of adjustments consumers would make if gasoline prices continue to rise, and of the implications of rising gasoline prices for policies that would discourage gasoline consumption and thus limit the growth in carbon dioxide emissions. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.

After World War II, the discovery and production of onshore oil in the United States faced decline. As a result, during the last half of the twentieth century, offshore prospects in the Gulf of Mexico took on new strategic value. Shell Oil Company pioneered many of the early moves offshore and continues to lead the way into "deepwater." For decades, the company dominated the Gulf of Mexico, developing more oil and gas fields there than any other firm. Tyler Priest's study is the first time the modern history of Shell Oil has been told in any detail. Drawing on interviews with Shell retirees and many other sources, Priest relates how the imagination, talent, and hard work of personnel at all levels shaped the evolution of the company. The narrative also covers important aspects of Shell Oil's corporate evolution, but the company's pioneering steps into the deepwater fields of the Gulf of Mexico are its signature achievement. Priest's study demonstrates that engineers did not suddenly create from scratch methods for finding and producing oil and gas from astounding water depths. Rather, they built on a half-century of accumulated knowledge and improvements to technical systems. Shell Oil's story is unique, but it also illuminates the modern history of the petroleum industry. As Priest demonstrates, this company's experiences offer a starting point for examining the understudied topics of strategic decision-making, scientific research, management of technology, and corporate organization and culture within modern oil companies, as well as how these activities applied to offshore development.

Over the past 10 years, surging crude oil and petroleum product prices have increased oil and gas industry revenues and generated record profits, particularly for the top five major integrated companies (also known as the "super-majors"): Exxon-Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron, and Conoco/Phillips. These companies, which reported a predominant share of those profits, generated more than $100 billion in profits on nearly $1.5 trillion of revenues in 2007. From 2003 to 2007, revenues increased by 51%; net income (profits) increased by 85%. Being largely price-driven, with no increase in output, and with little new production resulting from increased oil industry investment, many believe that a portion of the increased oil industry income over this period represents a windfall and unearned gain, i.e., income not earned by any additional effort on the part of the firms, but due primarily to record crude oil prices, which are set in the world oil marketplace. Numerous bills have been introduced in the Congress over this period to impose a windfall profits tax (WPT) on oil. This book discusses these options.

The environmental, the economic - and indeed the political - impact of the catastrophic 2010 blowout of BP's well in the Gulf of Mexico has highlighted the central part played by oil in the modern world. The fate of millions now depends on the ever-shifting value of petroleum and on the fortunes of the corporations that deliver it. The story of oil - how it came to play such a dominant role in the world economy, who controls its extraction, pricing and supply - is essential to an understanding of contemporary world politics. In this acclaimed book, Francisco Parra draws on his long experience in the oil world, including as the Secretary General of OPEC, to tell it. "Oil Politics "surveys the tumultuous history of the international petroleum industry, from its extraordinary growth between 1950 and 1979, presided over by the seven major oil companies, to the price revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, to the re-emergence of Russia as an important but uncertain supplier. Parra charts the changing power dynamics amongst the major oil suppliers and examines their relationships with the major oil importing countries, and how these concerns have impacted on foreign policy. Oil politics in the twenty-first century remain fraught with tensions, and this book offers a uniquely accessible guide to understanding this complex but vitally important subject.

This is the story behind the greatest oil discovery success of last century and the building of the Trans Alaska pipeline. This book details and celebrates a colossal oil exploration feat and a world-class engineering and construction project.

The Ormen Lange field is situated in the Norwegian Ocean, 120 kilometres west of the More coast. Discovered in 1997, it represents Norway's second largest gas field. The gas is brought from the reservoir 3000 metres below sea level to the land treatment plant at Aukra, from where it is transported through the world's longest sub-sea pipeline to England, where it for years will cover a fifth of the total British gas need. The development represented huge technological and organisational challenges on various levels, and the complexity can easily be compared to a moon landing. Innovation and creative art of engineering made the development possible. During the development modern technology crossed the world of the past and maritime history. In 2003 a group of marine archaeologists discovered several shipwrecks, of which a historical boat lying on the seafloor very close to the planned pipleine route from the Ormen Lange field to the land industrial plant. Could a shipwreck stop the largest industrial development in Norway, or would Norwegian marine archaeologists prove to have the creativity and skills to provide innovative technology to solve the problem? This book tells the story of the Ormen Lange development, and how skills, creativity and excellent co-operation on several levels made this not only a unique industrial project but also a unique marine archaeological project.

While billions have been provided to rebuild Iraq's oil and electricity sectors, Iraq's future needs are significant and sources of funding uncertain. For fiscal years 2003 through 2006, the United States made available about $7.4 billion and spent about $5.1 billion to rebuild the oil and electricity sectors. The United States spent an additional $3.8 billion in Iraqi funds on the two sectors, primarily on oil and electricity sector contracts administered by U.S. agencies. However, according to various estimates and officials, Iraq will need billions of additional dollars to rebuild, maintain, and secure Iraq's oil and electricity sectors. The Ministry of Electricity estimates that about $27 billion will be needed to meet the sector's future rebuilding requirements; a comparable estimate has not been developed by the Ministry of Oil. Since the majority (about 70 percent) of U.S. funds has been spent, the Iraqi government and the international donor community represent important sources of potential funding. However, prospects of such funding are uncertain. First, the Oil and Electricity Ministries have encountered difficulties spending capital improvement budgets because of weaknesses in budgeting, procurement, and financial management. As of November 2006, the Ministry of Oil had spent less than 3 percent of its $3.5 billion 2006 capital budget to improve Iraq's oil facilities. Second, Iraq has not made full use of potential international contributions and it is unclear what additional financial commitments, if any, will be provided to Iraq's oil and electricity sectors as part of a new international compact (agreement), according to U.S. officials. As of March 2007, donors had committed $580 million in grants for the electricity sector and had offered loans for oil and electricity projects; however, Iraq has not accessed these loans in part due to concerns about its high debt burden.

With oil around $100 a barrel, drivers wince whenever they pull into the gas station and businesses watch their bottom lines shrink. "Watch out," say doomsayers, "it will only get worse as oil dries up." It's a plausible argument, especially considering the rate at which countries like China and India are now sucking up oil. Even more troubling, the world's largest oil fields sit in geopolitical hotspots like Iran and Iraq. Some believe their nations need to secure remaining supplies using military force, while others consider dwindling supplies a blessing that will help solve the problem of global warming. But wait--is it really the "end of oil"? Absolutely not, says geologist, economist, and industry-insider Robin Mills. According to Mills, many ideas about petroleum depletion and its consequences are not just grossly overstated but plain wrong. Calmly and persuasively, he argues:

This entertaining collection of anecdotes and stories charts the lesser-known history of the hunt for oil in the Middle East.The Middle East had long been awash with rumours and legends of oil, rumours that gradually seeped into Western Europe. The Greek historian Herodotus had once described the existence of "oil-pits" in Mesopotamia, while Jebel Zeit, a mountain on the west coast of the Gulf of Suez, was known by the ancients as Mons Petroleus. "The Oil Hunters" tells the stories of the explorers, spies and entrepreneurs who led the hunt for oil in the Middle East from the 1880s to the outbreak of the Second World War. Against the backdrop of British and Russian - and increasingly American - manoeuvrings for dominance in the region, Roger Howard explores the history of oil exploration in anecdotal style and with a lively pace. He brings to life forgotten figures such as Frank Holmes, revered by the Arabs as Abu Naft (the Father of Oil) and Harry St John Philby, father of the famous traitor as well as figures from the world stage such as Julius de Reuter, Calouste Gulbenkian and Charles R. Crane.The book shows how today's oil giants emerged not only in Persia but also Iraq (Mesopotamia), Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. British Petroleum, for example, was originally the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. Considered by many to be one of the most important events of twentieth century history, the discovery of Persian oil in 1908 is related here as a vivid adventure story of exploration and exploitation, peopled by eccentrics, adventures and magnates.

This is the first book in the petroleum sector to shed light on the real obstacles to sustainable development and provides solutions to each problem encountered. Each solution is complete with an economic analysis that clarifies why petroleum operations can continue with even greater profit than before while ensuring that the negative environmental impact is diminished. The new screening tools and models proposed in this book will provide one with proper guidelines to achieve true sustainability in both technology development and management of the petroleum sector.

In the 1970s and 1980s the Texas wildcatter was a recognizable figure in popular culture. Since then, the wildcatter's role is less celebrated but still important, as shown in the new introduction to this edition of a book originally published in 1984 by Texas Monthly Press. Drawing heavily on oral histories, this book tells the story of the West Texas independents as a group, looking at their business strategies in the context of their national, regional, and local conditions. The focus is on the Permian Basin and southeastern New Mexico over the sixty-year period in which the region rose to prominence on the American oil scene, producing about one-fifth of the nation's output. It is a story that covers vast technological change, governmental regulation, and economic fluctuation with profound implications for the oil and gas community. The new introduction brings the story up-to-date by addressing not only the subsequent careers of the wildcatters described in the book but also the role of independents in the current economy. ROGER M. OLIEN, who holds a Ph.D. from Brown University, lives in Austin and is a member of the TSHA Speakers Bureau.DIANA DAVIDS HINTON holds the J. Conrad Dunagan Chair in regional and business history at the University of Texas-Permian Basin. Her Ph.D. is from Yale University.

The peaking of world oil production presents the U.S. and the world with an unprecedented risk management problem. As peaking is approached, liquid fuel prices and price volatility will increase dramatically, and without timely mitigation, the economic, social, and political costs will be unprecedented. Viable mitigation options exist on both the supply and demand sides, but to have substantial impact, they must be initiated more than a decade in advance of peaking. Dealing with world oil production peaking will be extremely complex, involve literally trillions of dollars and require many years of intense effort. To explore these complexities, three alternative mitigation scenarios are analysed: scenario I assumes that action is not initiated until peaking occurs; scenario II assumes that action is initiated 10 years before peaking; scenario III assumes action is initiated 20 years before peaking. For this analysis estimates of the possible contributions of each mitigation option were developed, based on an assumed crash program rate of implementation.

Are oil-rich countries prone to war? And, if so, why? There is a widely held belief that contemporary wars are motivated by the desire of great powers like the United States or Russia to control precious oil resources and to ensure energy security. This book argues that the main reason why oil-rich countries are prone to war is because of the character of their society and economy. Sectarian groups compete for access to oil resources and finance their military adventures through smuggling oil, kidnapping oil executives, or blowing up pipelines. Outside intervention only makes things worse. The use of conventional military force as in Iraq can bring neither stability nor security of supply. This book examines the relationship between oil and war in six different regions: Angola, Azerbaijan, Colombia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Russia. Each country has substantial oil reserves, and has a long history of conflict. The contributors assess what part oil plays in causing, aggravating or mitigating war in each region and how this relation has altered with the changing nature of war. It offers a novel conceptual approach bringing together Kaldor's work on 'new wars' and Karl's work on the petro-state.

One of the major policy challenges for the US following the events of September 11 2001 and their aftermaths has been how to reduce the country's dependence on oil from the Middle East. There have been suggestions of policy shifts in Washington in which Africa's share of US oil imports will rise dramatically over the next few years. Nigeria, one of the world's largest producers of crude oil, is believed to have more than 30 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, mostly in the Niger Delta areas. Despite this huge reserve however, crude supplies from the country remains at best erratic largely because of conflicts, violence and the rise of ethnic militias in the oil-producing areas of the country. The book explores the causes, sources and dynamics of the conflicts between the oil-bearing communities and oil companies in Nigeria. Taking its point of departure from the social interaction paradigm, it argues that the conflicts in the Niger Delta are embedded in the triangular relationship between the government, the oil companies and the host communities. ________ Austin Onuoha, studied History at the University of Ife, Ile-Ife, Nigeria and did graduate studies in Conflict Transformations at the Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA. He has worked on issues of human rights and conflict resolution in, and around the Niger Delta of Nigeria for over 10 years, including as the Executive Secretary/Head of Conflict Resolution at the Human Rights Commission, Abakaliki, Nigeria. He was also a consultant to the Centre for Social and Corporate Responsibility (CSCR) based in Nigeria's oil capital, Port Harcourt. He is currently a doctoral candidate in Conflict Analysis and Resolution at the Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and USA.

"This book explains both why the decline of our most precious fuel is inevitable and how challenging it will be to cope with what comes next."--Richard E. Smalley, University Professor, Rice University, and 1996 Nobel laureate
With world oil production about to peak and inexorably head toward steep decline, what fuels are available to meet rising global energy demands? That question, once thought to address a fairly remote contingency, has become ever more urgent, as a spate of books has drawn increased public attention to the imminent exhaustion of the economically vital world oil reserves. Kenneth S. Deffeyes, a geologist who was among the first to warn of the coming oil crisis, now takes the next logical step and turns his attention to the earth's supply of potential replacement fuels. In "Beyond Oil," he traces out their likely production futures, with special reference to that of oil, utilizing the same analytic tools developed by his former colleague, the pioneering petroleum-supply authority M. King Hubbert.
"The bad news in this book is made bearable by the author's witty, conversational writing style. If my college econ textbooks had been written this way, I might have learned economics." --Rupert Cutler, "The Roanoke Times"

In order to prioritize exploration activities, oil and gas companies need to follow a framework. This important procedural envelope is critical to the success of any oil and gas venture. Decision makers need to consider a multitude of variables before they decide whether or not to pursue any petroleum project. Before a decision to drill a well can be made, some important questions need to be answered; some of these questions revolve around the need for assurance that a well will bring wealth to the organization or parties that drill it. A decision maker therefore has to start by asking whether a venture is worth pursuing from an economic perspective. The answer to this question forms the heart of petroleum investment; and supporting this process by building petroleum economic models is what this book is all about. This book offers a basic understanding of the methods required to build economic models for valuing upstream petroleum projects. The book offers an overview of the fundamentals of some of the major petroleum contracts, simple commercial concepts and how to use them for creating valuation models.

"Ninety percent of the world's oil reserves are entrusted to state-owned companies. Originally created as political instruments, these so-called national oil companies (NOCs) face new demands amid today's dwindling oil reserves and simmering social pressures. Increasingly, state-owned oil firms-particularly in the Middle East-are having to balance the political demands of their governments with the need to be commercially competitive. In this ground-breaking new volume, Valerie Marcel draws on unprecedented access to the politicians, engineers; and businessmen directing five Middle Eastern state oil companies to shed light on one of the most secretive segments of the international oil industry. The author tells the stories of Saudi Aramco, Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the National Iranian Oil Co., Sonatrach of Algeria, and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.-oil titans which together produce one quarter of the world's oil and hold half of the world's known oil and gas reserves. Dr. Marcel explains the complex bond between each state and its oil company, tracing the relationship's evolution from the politically charged days of foreign concessions to today's world of profit-driven decisionmaking. Drawn from over 120 interviews with company executives, middle managers, and oil-ministry officials, the author identifies a number of surprising new trends in these companies' strategy, and she paints a picture of their nascent sense of corporate identity. The book provides rare, up-to-date insight into how state-owned companies are striking a balance between their national mission and their commercial needs. The book also provides an insider's guide to these companies' unique culture. Executives and researchers in the region-both inside and outside the oil industry-will find it a valuable tool for understanding business in the Middle East. "

This volume offers refineries a practical guide to implementing environmental management systems (EMS). The author, who has implemented hundreds of successful EMS programs throughout North America, Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia and the Middle East, provides a detailed explanation of what an EMS is and how it can benefit refinery operations in complying with environmental laws and improving the overall efficiency of their operations. The authors approach, which does not focus, like most programs, only on compliance, has been internationally recognized as an integrated model that captures improved compliance and financial savings by reducing operating costs through dedicated pollution prevention programs.