Nontechnical Guide to Petroleum Geology, Exploration, Drilling and Production (2nd Edition)

In attempting to get quickly up to speed on the oil business for the purpose of participating in a few wells as a (very) small investor, I bought about ten books of various sorts. This is one of them, and has turned out to be the one I refer to the most.First, let me say that there are two different types of books on drilling for oil/gas. Broadly, they are books that concentrate mainly on the financial and legal structure of oil deals and books that concentrate on where it is and how to get it out of the ground. This book is of the second sort.The "nontechnical" part of the title is only partly true. Some of the descriptions are sufficiently technical to impart a working understanding of the operations in the field. I, for instance, have been going to our rig (now drilling) and asking questions ("What's that blue thing?"), then coming home and reading about what I was told ("The jar is a section of pipe that either mechanically....").Same with the drilling reports I receive.... I can look up that part of the drilling operation (ie, "sliding") and get a much better understanding of what's happening. A book comes in handy, after all, the tool pushers out on the rigs seem to be men of few words.There is also a pretty good basic course in petroleum geology in the first thirteen chapters. And, the science (art?) of geophysics gets a good once-over, too, though I confess I've not paid much attention to it yet.There are chapters on reservoirs, completion, offshore, production, workover, and more, all of which is written at the same level, and much of which I've not read in depth, only scanned. I'll read it as we get there out in the field.This is a sufficiently information-dense book that actually sitting and reading it from cover to cover won't realistically happen for most folks, no matter how involved. It's more of a textbook and reference resource.There are lots of diagrams and drawings and pictures (probably three hundred) and they help a lot. The lengthy glossary is OK, though I've not found a petroleum business glossary that seems to be truly comprehensive. (That was written before I found, and ordered, the comprehensive "Dictionary of Petroleum Exploration, Drilling & Production" by who else but Norman J. Hyne, Ph.D.,.... and nope, I have no axe to grind here; and yes, I have noticed that Norman seems to favor long titles). The folks in the oil business rely very heavily on their own language that is a combination of truly technical terminology, oilman slang and everything in between. A glossary is handy. Also be forewarned that the business uses lots of abbreviations, and they seem to change somewhat from company to company, so that a glossary won't ever have all of the abbreviations in use in the field.There are some other books that do a pretty good job on a more basic level, including "Money In The Ground" by John Orban, III (which also includes deal structure), but, if you are looking for a book that is deep enough to give you a good understanding of the many various aspects of drilling for oil, this is the book.

I bought this book to help study for the ASBOG PG exam as I have zero experience in the petroleum industry. The book is written so everything is pretty easy to understand. Honestly, reading this book saved my a** on the exam which is heavily weighted towards petroleum, mining, and engineering geology.

Have used this book for ~5 years and is my "go to" book. Is an excellent source of basic information about all aspects of oil and gas exploration, development and production. However, with vast advances in multi stage fraccing in horizontal wells and its revolutionary impact on the sector, the book needs an update. And it would be nice to update the diagrams and the pics. Some seem to have been taken decades ago.That said, every oil and gas investor needs this book on their shelf.

nothing in your life is not touched by oil learn bought how its found and processed

If you're a mechanical or chemical engineer and you want to start learning the petroleum industry, this book is a good starting place. it's not a "dummies guide to..." but it simplifies the topics enough for folks with little to no back ground. I am transitioning from aerospace to petroleum and this has been a really great way to teach myself how to keep up in meetings with all the lingo and technical concepts.

This book is a necessary purchase for anyone working in the oil industry. No matter how long someone has been doing this or what their job is, they will learn something from this book. It is very readable, not so much like a textbook. There are illustrations of some things discussed. I highly recommend this book, but don't loan it to anyone or you won't get it back!

The nontechnical guide arrived in the mail in the speedy fashion typical of Amazon. I ripped into the packaging, withdrawing my hardbound book on Petroleum knowledge. I quickly flew threw the pages of the book, noting how the information was presented. Well organized according to subject, ie Geology, exploration, Drilling and Production, each one of these areas of the oil industry was explained in simple, easy to understand language, and would allow this book to be used as a class room text. There were many pictures, diagrams and drawn out explanations about the subject being explained. The material presented information in a specific area and in a manner that was easy to absorb, find again and use.The book would allow me to become the oilman of my dreams, at least in my head. I have just finished reading the book, taking about a week or two to do so, and inclulded many margin comments in my book. This item was a good purchase, in that it provided the information I needed in a manner that I could use. There were many recommended readings in other publications. I would recommend this book for all readers, except the hardened oil man with years of experience. For him I am sure there is another source of information.

This book is very very good, easy to understand and very precise in its content. Is very good to have a general and clear idea about the production, exploration, drilling and geology of the oil. Highly recommended

I got this book for my brother to read up on the oil industry. He says its well written, clear, informative and that its worth the money. Good book

excellent intorduction to the industry

Item as describes, fast delivery

I have gone through 3 of these books (always lend it out and people don't give it back) and consider it the best primer for oil and gas out there. It goes through how wells are drilled and varying types of geology. One criticism it is that it is mainly focused on the United States and those of us in Canada do not have direct analogies. The book looks intimidating but there are a number of pictures and decently sized text so it is not really that hard of a read.As a suggestion for those who want a more Canadian centric view is a government publication titled "Our Petroleum Challenge" from the Centre of Energy.