Okay, so Azure is probably my go-to guy here but maybe someone else can help me out as well. I'm looking for introductory books into the oil industry. Can be high-level, overview over the entire value chain. Can be one specific aspect (i.e. just off-shore drilling or finding new fields). Generally just looking for good, solid introductory works. Can also be documentaries but I'm not too much of a fan of audio stuff. So basically books or documentaries (and maybe websites?). Things to keep in mind: - I don't have an engineering background but rather a business background (which is also where my interest comes from). I think I should be able to figure things out quite easily as I'm one hell of a smart guy ( ) and did go for the science grammar school diploma. - I am absolutely NOT interested in all the crap that takes most of the top spots on Amazon - so all this "Blood for Oil", "How Oil ruins the U.S.", "Energy Independence" crap - save yourself the trouble. I just don't care about whatever axe someone may have to grind. Doesn't mean I'm not interested in the political aspects underlying the oil industry but it should be from an objective/historical perspective without an overtly explicit POV. - I'd prefer to NOT pay insane textbook prices, i.e. everything up to about $50 is dandy but afterwards it'll start hurting. - Finally, I already know about this one. Also, paperback would be prefered just because it's easier to take with me. Lotsa conditions so let's see whether there's anything out there.
If you're interested in the extraction process of oil and natural gas (all the big companies do both), then I suggest you google and read about Well Services, Wireline, Hydraulic Fracturing, Off-shore Drilling, and then read the histories of companies like Halliburton, BJ Services, Schlumberger, Exxon, BP, and Shell. Just try and learn about the latest technologies. One link should lead to another and another and the next thing you know you'll have a decent over view of the whole field.
Tough to find reading material on Amazon without it being politically motivated one way or the other. To expand a bit on what Tex said.....include the 'tar sands'....and 'shale oil' into your list of things to search for. The tar sands are economically viable with the price right now, and from what I know, shale oil should be too. No idea why the latter isn't being pursued a bit more. Suncor and Syncrude are the biggest players in the tar sands up here, so add them to your list of oil companies to look up. Personally, I'm not very knowledgeable about off-shore drilling. Or any other conventional methods of extracting oil. The rigs I worked on used 'steam assisted gravity drainage' to extract the bitumen. I'll try to give you a quick run down of how we get oil out of the tar sands. Where possible, surface mining is used to extract the oil. Even though 80% of the oil in the tar sands is not accessible, there is still A LOT of oil to be extracted by surface mining it. Using this method, costs are around $25-$30/bbl, which is this day and age, makes extracting oil via this method very profitable. And exactly why the tar sands are so popular. The Kearl Project that just got a go ahead by Imperial Oil is a surface mining project. I mentioned it in the Red Room thread. 110,000/bpd, $8 billion dollar investment, and it is still considered 'small' going by the $33 billion dollar investment Petro Canada(now Suncor)....made, and numerous other surface mining projects. Since 80% of the oil in the tarsands are covered by too much overburden, and cannot be recovered by the 'surface mining' method, there are 5 other methods used. Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) Cyclic Steam Simulation (CSS) Vapor Extraction Process (VAPEX) Toe to Heel Air Injection (THAI) Cold Flow (CHOPS) As it is with anything else, over time the technology has improved, and we've gone from only being able to recover 5-6% of the 'oil in place' using Cold Flow, to 20-25% recovery using CSS, to 60%+ using SAGD. The two newest methods, VAPEX, and THAI....are both being experimented with, so there really is no solid data to post. When I got off the rigs, THAI was the next big thing. 50% less greenhouse gases, less freshwater being used, smaller footprint, smaller energy consumption.....so I'd imagine with time most of the newer wells will use this process. Also, if you've looked at any pictures of the tar sands, you'd notice how the environment seems to be destroyed by the extraction process, but what the media doesn't tell you is that the big players like Suncor have developed 'restoration projects' that basically turn the area where they extracted the oil into a sustainable and healthy environment. I've driven through a few of them, and if you didn't know that 30 years ago, Suncor was surface mining right there, there was no way you could tell. Far as I'm concerned, oil will be in demand for a long time into the future. And because of that, we should be developing ways to extract and refine it more efficienty. There are companies up here experimenting with 'carbon capture' technology, where 100% of the gases released are being captured, and stored underground. Apparently carbon in the soil is a good for the environment. The next 10 years will be very interesting.
Oh, I know I didn't give you any 'reading material' as far as books are concerned, because I honestly don't know where to start.....but you can take any of the topics I mentioned above and read up on it. Most of the knowledge I have about the tar sands comes from obviously working in the industry, and from internet research.
Thought just occurred to me......if you really are interested in 'oil'....living the life of a rig-pig is the single best way to learn about the whole process. Its a dirty job, and you're usually surrounded by dirty, vile minded people.....not to mention the living conditions if you happen to get stuck on one of those off-shore rigs, or a rig in a remote area, but damn is it fun. Hard working 12 hour days(what I did)....but I thrived under the pressure to preform. 12 hours on, 12 hours on.....2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. That was the official 'time' we were supposed to work, but it usually ended up being 14 hours on, 10 hours off, all of which were spent sleeping, and the 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. One of my dreams is to work on an off-shore rig, and should the chance ever come up, I'd drop everything for 6 months and go for it. 6 months on, 6 months off....which is what some of the guys I worked with did on the off-shore rigs. I'm not sure how the 6 months off work, I assume they give you 6 months off if they know you're coming back again, so obviously you'd have to sign a contract. But it would be fun.
Tempting but not an option. I guess I'll look into the Beginner's Guide first and then google for your suggested terms. Thanks a lot and keep them coming if you can think of something else!
Wait a second, why the hell is Pylades banned? [edit] Fuck it, that's got to be a glitch, his banning was dated prior to this thread. Therefore: unbanned.
Send him an email letting him know he's unbanned and apologizing when you've got a second please. Are there any other people banned that shouldn't be?
Good idea, I've e-mailed him. There's actually a fairly large number of users on the banned list, though most are spambots from my quick review. I'll need to look through it in some detail to figure out how many other real users are on the list.
No idea. But the ban's effective date was 2006, and I know I e seen him posting within the past year, which males me think there's some sort of glitch. Also, people who request it get a different status than an out and out ban.
