Oil 101

I purchased this book strictly with the intention of learning more about the trading side of the business but was very pleasantly surprised to find that it started from the very bottom of the ladder and revealed practically every essential detail of the industry. Being specifically employed in the gas industry I was skeptical at first of the value I stood to gain from reading this. But once I sank into even the first chapter I realized that a lot of gas industry practices and jargon were actually spinoffs or directly borrowed from the oil industry. The book spares no detail and takes nothing for granted as being already known or understood unless it was previously stated between its covers. It can thus be understood from the simplest level go up. Im just about halfway through but will certainly update my review once completed. I look forward to an updated version that perhaps expands some more on the world's oil balance given recent large discoveries in Brazil and Africa (East and West). Im not sure if the topic can be rightly squeezed into the same volume but a "Gas 101" might be a likewise appreciated accompaniment to this handy piece of work. I have two criticisms to give neither of which managed to diminish my inclination toward a five-star review. I guess my appreciation for the content over-rode both my cautions. Firstly, the shipping time was way too long. The book is a fast moving stock item and should at least be stocked to reduce shipout time. Secondly, the language, though simple to read at any level, is sufficiently poor in places to totally derail the flow and require you to read the same sentence twice or more. You will ultimately get the idea the author is trying to convey so I dont see this as being worth an entire star in the final rating. "Oil 101" is definitely a worthy investment rather than an expense and will aptly prime newcomers to the industry in just as much time as it takes them to read it.

I'm a young engineering graduate looking to get into the oil and gas industry. I bought this book as it was highly recommended as an introductory text to the petroleum industry, and it was EXACTLY what I was looking for. I knew very little about the industry before this book, and wanted something easy to read that gave me a broad understanding of everything oil and gas. This book was exactly this. Interesting, easy to understand, with enough detail to provide understanding without getting so specific as to bore you. This book reads very much like a textbook, in that its almost completely fact driven, with little personal opinion expressed. Downey covers a broad range of topics, and includes things like prevailing opinions, opposing views, issues, new alternatives, and pros/cons. But this book is also rather "un-textbooklike" in that it won't put you to sleep. While many authors can ramble on, with much of the text providing little value, Downey succinctly states facts and moves on to new topics before you get bored. In conclusion, this textbook is a fantastic introduction to the oil and gas industry, and upon completing it you will undoubtedly have a much better understanding of everything to do with the petroleum industry. No book can contain all information, but I see that as a strength for "Oil 101". It can provide direction for areas of the industry where you show particular interest, in which case you can look into other resources to further your understanding. This text also works as a great reference text, as the book is very well organized (like a university textbook), with a detailed index. Fantastic job, Mr. Downey.

This book provided a clear understanding of the production of oil, from land use leading to drilling, regulations, transport, the various grades of crude, cost and refinement stages and finally, investing (what to look for when doing so). More informational than historical. I enjoyed it.

A well-written, insightful, educational, clear and honest book that reflects all aspects of the petroleum industry and functions nicely as reference work. One area where Mr. Downey completely missed the ball, however, is his simplistic prediction (or lack thereof) of the developments in shale oil (e.g. completely dismissing the potential), that was just starting to bear fruits when the book was published. I would like to see a revised edition, discussing the various aspects of the shale/tight (unconventional) oil/gas production growth's effects on the downstream industrial complex, domestic vehicular fuel network, petroleum products pricing, global energy security, et cetera.

I picked this up wanting a better grasp on how the oil industry actually works upstream, midstream, downstream, refining, pricing, all of it. Oil 101 breaks it all down in plain language without dumbing it down. It covers everything from exploration and drilling to refining, distribution, and how oil prices are set globally. What I appreciated most is how comprehensive it is without being political or hype-driven. It's focused on the facts, the mechanics, and the flow of the industry. There’s some density in the middle chapters, but if you stick with it, you’ll walk away with a way deeper understanding of how oil actually moves through the economy and how to think about energy in a global sense. Definitely recommend for anyone in energy, investing, logistics, or just wanting to know what’s going on behind the gas pump.

Oil 101 is a fascinating book. It explains everything I wanted to know about oil. Over the past few years with rapidly rising and falling oil prices, politicians, TV pundits and market commentators blamed speculators, OPEC, refineries and a host of other seemingly random events. I felt that everyone understood only tiny portions of the oil business. There was no single source which pulled together disparate areas describing oil. Internet searches for oil definitions yielded individual descriptions without an overall context. Downey's Oil 101 brings all parts of the oil business together in a logical easily understood manner. The sequence of chapters is perfect and the author makes no assumption of prior knowledge. The index is so thorough that I use the book daily as a desk reference. The chapter on the history of oil is refreshing and is very much worth the price of the book in itself. The book rose my interest to visit the world's first oil well in Oil Creek near Titusville, Pennsylvania where the modern oil industry started in 1859. It was certainly an interesting trip. The book explains clearly how oil markets operate and oil prices change. The amount of useful information contained in this book is phenomenal. A more important point that I like this book is that the book is very interesting and easy to read. This is exceptional for a highly specialized technical book. I highly recommend Downey's Oil 101. Below is the table of contents: Part One: Oil fundamentals Chapter 1: A brief history of oil Chapter 2: A crude oil assay Chapter 3: Components of oil liquids Chapter 4: Chemistry of oil Chapter 5: Industry overview Chapter 6: Exploration and production Chapter 7: Refining Chapter 8: Standards Chapter 9: Finished products Chapter 10: Petrochemicals Chapter 11: Transporting oil Chapter 12: Storage Chapter 13: Seasonality Chapter 14: Reserves Chapter 15: Environmental regulations Chapter 16: New engine technologies Part Two: Oil markets Chapter 17: Oil prices Chapter 18: Forward oil markets - futures and swaps Chapter 19: Forward oil markets - options Chapter 20: Managing oil price risk

This is THE book for understanding oil and oil markets. It will tell you more about oil than you ever really wanted to know. I will warn you though that this is not a "casual" look at the oil industry. This is a "deep dive". The book explains everything from the molecules that make up oil and their chemistry to how the chemistry affects the refining process to the geology and how it affects the search for oil to oil contracts and the markets where oil is traded. Having a strong background in science will help in reading this book tremendously. I have that background, so I found it very easy to read. For people without that background, I think it's still readable although highly technical. You can probably skip some of the more technical chapters, but I would recommend diving into them and just seeing how much of it you understand. You'll get more out of it if you understand the science, but I think even someone who doesn't understand the science would probably learn quite a bit from the more technical chapters. As technical as this book is, it's written in a very readable and informal style. It's not hard to read at all; it just gets into some pretty deep science, and the subject itself is pretty technical. And it covers just about everything there is to know in the oil industry. I recommend this book to people all the time. This is THE book if you want to know about the oil industry and you aren't a petroleum engineer yet.

For 15 some years I have worked as a consultant that tangentially deals with the oil and gas industry, and yet I still found this book a very good read. So even though I know a fair bit about the chemistry and have a passing knowledge of the production and pricing processes, I learned something new in almost every section of this book. When you first crack it open you might be a little surprised to see that there are no color pictures, and that all of the graphs and pictures are of somewhat low quality - like a scans of images in an old thesis. But don't let that deter you! The substance is all there. You will learn about the discovery and early production of oil; all the types oil rigs; how crackers work; the myriad of products distilled from crude; how pipelines work and how prices are set. Historical references are used throughout, so you see for example how the Oil Embargo rippled through production and pricing and technology changes that spanned decades. But you also learn neat little things like how diesel engines differ from gasoline engines. Why European countries tax petroleum more than the US. How gasoline production changes between spring and winter. All great stuff. This is in essence a textbook, which is good in that you can start and stop reading at convenient places and skip certain sections without losing anything. It also means that you only dive in so far to any one topic. But it's not dry (in my opinion) and is easily accessible to any reader.

A must read for all in the oil and petchem industry!

Ein gutes Buch zum Thema Oil, das sich jedoch zu einem ganz erheblichen Teil nicht mit dem Handel von Öl (also Futures etc.) beschäftigt sondern das physische Produkt und den Markt erklärt: Zum Beispiel finden sich so seitenlange Abhandlungen darüber welche verschiedenen Ölbohrköpfe es gibt, wie spezielle Teile einer Raffinerie aufgebaut sind und wie verschiedene Petrochemikalien chemisch zusammengesetzt sind. Der Autor erklärt dabei anschaulich für einen intelligenten Laien. Im Stil ähnlich wie z.b. ein Artikel im "Economist". Ich finde das Buch persönlich hochinteressant, hätte mir jedoch durchaus mehr zum Thema Handel erhofft. Auch ist das Buch sehr US-zentrisch. Ich vermute dass manch ein potentieller Käufer dieses Buch missversteht: Oil 101 ist im Prinzip ein technischer Einstieg für Wirtschaftswissenschaftler in den Ölmarkt. Das Buch enthält keine ethische Bewertung des Themas. Ebenso fehlen praktische Tips zum Investieren für Privatanleger. Too long didn't read: Für mich ein Topkauf.

As someone who is involved in a peripheral business to Oil & Gas, this book filled all the holes in what I thought I knew about the industry. As far as I am concerned, this is a must read text for anybody with involvement in Oil & Gas.

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I was very pleased with my purchase of this book. I wanted to learn more about where oil comes from, how it is processed and how a price is achieved. It thoroughly covered these things. I learned many new facts about oil (too numerous to go into). I do have a background in geology and chemistry though have not worked in these areas. This background knowledge was of enormous help in reading the book. However if you have no science background yet are determined to find out more about oil then don't be discouraged. Merely skip to the areas you are most interested in or use the book as an opportunity to learn a little organic chemistry (you won't need much beyond the basics of organic chemistry -easy- to understand what is being said). To finish, if you are interested in how the entire oil industry operates this book will educate you in a no nonsense factual way. Don't continue to make do with the dross written in the press about what is making oil prices move. Stop listening to people go on about the oil industry and prices as if they knew what they were on about. Be an educated voice that calmly and sensibly informs. Chapters A brief history of oil, A crude assay, components of oil liquids, chemistry of oil, industry overview, exploration and production, refining, standards, finished products, petrochemicals, transporting oil, storage, seasonality, reserves, environmental regulations, new engine technologies (brief), Oil prices, forward oil markets -futures and swaps, forward oil markets - options, managing oil price risk.