Subjects:  1. Chemistry - Industrial & Technical    2. Engineering - Chemical & Biochemical    3. Geology    4. Mathematical models    5. Petroleum    6. Petroleum reserves    7. Phase rule and equilibrium    8. Science    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Technology & Industrial Arts    11. Industrial chemistry    12. Mathematics and Science    13. Science / Chemistry / Technical & Industrial   

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Engineering Geology    3. Mining    4. Oil well logging    5. Petroleum    6. Reference    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Technology    9. Technology & Industrial Arts    10. Mathematics for scientists & engineers    11. Petroleum geology   

Reviews (1)

The Bible of Open-Hole Log Interpretation
This book is an exhaustive work on open-hole logging.Mr. Dewan has years of experience in this field, and has won numerous awards for his work, including a lifetime achievement award from SPLWA.He has travelled the world over, teaching courses to students in the oil industry.Mr. Dewan's unique and considerable experience shines through this book, written in a easily understood fashion to accomdate a wider audience. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Coal Mining    2. Engineering - General    3. Geophysical well logging    4. Mining    5. Petroleum    6. Reference    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Technology    9. Technology & Industrial Arts    10. Mathematics for scientists & engineers    11. Petroleum geology   

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Geology    3. Geophysics    4. Petroleum    5. Petroleum Exploration    6. Popular works    7. Prospecting    8. Science    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Earth Sciences | Geology    11. Petroleum geology    12. Science / Geophysics   

Reviews (62)

A tough read but a worthwhile one
Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage is not an easy read, but it is an important one if you really want to understand why some knowledgable people are trying to warn us about the end of cheap oil. The author, Kenneth Deffeyes, is thoroughly grounded in his material on both the academic and the professional level, having literally grown up in the oil field, worked for some of the largest oil companies in the world, and having taught at Princeton University. He also has the more unique qualification of having actually studied under and worked with M. King Hubbert himself. The problem with his book, however, is that it is written as if presuming that the reader already has some background in both geology and statistics. At less than 200 pages, it is not a particularly long book, but it is rather dense in places, leaving the reader frequently wishing he could interrupt the lecture and ask questions before moving on.
Erroneous from the Very First Sentence
If the reader knew absolutely nothing about oil production and read this book, then he or she would believe his claim that global production of crude oil will decline permanently in the very near future.Deffeyes takes his cue from price fluctuations, and I, knowing nothing about petroleum exploration and refining and hearing a lot about 'Peak Oil' (made popular by such conspiratorial tomes as The Grand Chessboard, The Party's Over and Crossing the Rubicon), keep hearing that little statistician's nagging voice in my head, saying: Technically Dense but Rewarding
I agree with some other reviewers, that the initial chapters are a bit intense technically.However, I think the book is worth the effort.It paints a very detailed picture on how unusual oil deposits really are, and how thorough the search has been to find the "elephants" or big deposits.Also, it really gets you to understand the oil exploration and drilling business.For me, I found that very interesting.
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Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Forecasting    3. Natural Resources    4. Petroleum    5. Petroleum industry and trade    6. Petroleum reserves    7. Power Resources    8. Science    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Earth Sciences    11. Economics    12. International economics    13. Management of land & natural resources    14. Petroleum & oil industries    15. Political Science and International Relations    16. Science / Earth Sciences   

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Science    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Earth Sciences    5. Microscopy    6. Petroleum geology    7. Petrology    8. Reference works    9. Science / Earth Sciences   

Reviews (22)

Oil everywhere
I was very impressed Dr. Gold's crisp and persuasive arguments for the deep and non-biological origin of petroleum.Dr. Gold pictures the greater part of the Earth's biosphere infiltrating the rocks of the upper crust, where autotrophic bacteria feed on virtually limitless upwelling hydrocarbons from the planet's interior -- a hypothesis that culminated in the fascinating "Siljan" experiment in 1987, in which tens of millions of dollars were invested drilling a 5-mile well into the granite of Switzerland in search of non-biological hydrocarbons.Dr. Gold states that crude oil and other hydrocarbons were recovered from rocks where conventional geology said they could not exist.Unfortunately, this may not meet Carl Sagan's threshold of "extraordinary evidence," since his work seems to have been largely ignored by modern geologists.Nevertheless, this tightly reasoned and polished book made a believer out of me.Among other fascinating statements, Dr. Gold believes the world's oil reserves are actually slowly "recharging," and that life originated within the Earth's crust.I certainly recommend this book to anybody with an interest in oil, geology or the origin of life.
Scientific theory, or maybe just true !!
As a geologist familiar with the traditional theories about accumulations of oil and related gases in structural domes, I was skeptical of Gold's theories.But the more I read, the more I became convinced his explanations of facts that went unaccounted for using the old theories had some merit.Of course, the only problem with his theory is that we will never be able to prove it.To prove it we would have to drill at least 200 kilometers down into the earth.But his five assumptions are valid and not disproveable.Plus, I read a recent newspaper article that scientists have found evidence of a deep unidentified source of methane gas.As a scientist you can poo poo it, but hey, wait until all evidence comes in, at least give the author that much respect. Recommended for those scientists who have an open mind.

Read with an open mind
Thomas Gold's book is highly intriguing and worth the effort to absorb. Since it was first published, field research has confirmed the Earth does have a deep, hot microbial ecosystem that extends as far as observations have gone to date. Several recent lines of field and laboratory evidence support the contention that some portion of Earth's hydrocarbons are formed by non-biological processes. In my opinion he pushes his thesis past the bounds of accepted evidence by suggesting that little, if any of the known oil and natural gas deposits were formed by the deep burial of surface organisms in sedimentary rock formations. Until much more definitive evidence is available, a model that allows for hydrocarbons of biological and nonbiological origin provides the best fit for all of the evidence. Most of the fascination with this book seems to stem from its implication that commercially exploitable oil deposits will not dwindle in the forseeable future and therefore everybody can continue driving huge gas-wasting vehicles and spewing pollutants into the atmosphere with wild abandon. Gold's one weakness is that he fails to mention the obvious and serious consequences of unchecked burning of fossil fuels: worsening air pollution and more risk of disastrous impacts of climate change. This book does not make me want to buy a Hummer and leave it idling all night because oil will never run out, but unfortunately it appears to send this message to some people. A more sober, forward-thinking and responsible approach to reading this book is that regardless of the source and magnitude of oil deposits on Earth the consequences of continued and massive combustion of oil will have a far greater impact on future generations than than a 30 cent difference in the price of gasoline in 2050. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Deep-earth gas theory    2. Earth Sciences - General    3. Geology    4. Hydrocarbons    5. Life    6. Origin Of Life    7. Petroleum    8. Petroleum Geology    9. Science    10. Science/Mathematics    11. Evolution    12. Oceanography (seas)    13. Science / Biology   

Subjects:  1. Data processing    2. Mathematical models    3. Oil reservoir engineering    4. Petroleum geology   

Reviews (2)

could use a good proofreadin'
The book explained the field well, but it referred, more than once, to a non-existant 'further reading' section. It also referred to a list of acronyms, supposedly containted within, which wasn't in the book either. It could really use an editor. Could use a good proofreadin'
The book explained the field well, but it referred, more than once, to a non-existant 'further reading' section.It also referred to a list of acronyms, supposedly containted within, which wasn't in the book either.It could really use an editor.Read more

Subjects:  1. Engineering - General    2. Mining    3. Oil well drilling    4. Petroleum    5. Reference    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Technology    8. Technology & Industrial Arts    9. Fossil fuel technologies    10. Geology & the lithosphere    11. Mining technology & engineering   

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - General    2. Earth Sciences - Geology    3. Geophysics    4. Petroleum    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Sequence stratigraphy    8. Earth Sciences    9. Science / Geology   

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Environmental Science    3. Geophysics    4. Petroleum    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Geology & the lithosphere    8. Reference works    9. Science / Environmental Science   

Reviews (36)

Succinct, focused, readable
For those of you who are just getting interested in the subject, David Goodstein's Out of Gas is the book you want to read first.I have read several books on the impending energy crisis, including:
Best introduction to fuel (oil) depletion I have read...
This book is a short read, so the review should be short, too.This is the best book on fuel depletion on the market, in my opinion: short, accurate, factual, non-polarizing, objective, useful, and scientifically correct.Reviewers who quibble over small stuff are missing the point.There is an annotated bibliography for those who want more.You can't go wrong with this one.

This book played fast with the facts
After reading this book, I sold my copy as a used book on Amazon --- and I almost never do this. I have read 5 books about the end of oil prior to reading OUT OF GAS, and I felt that the author played with the facts to make his point. Clearly, the author wanted the make the crisis that we are facing seem less urgent and dire than the other books on the topic. While I am not a scientist who has studied this topic first hand, I have studied books and other literature on this topic, and feel that other sources provide better information. Specifically, Hubbard's Peak is not as clearly explained here as in other books.
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Subjects:  1. Energy    2. Forecasting    3. Petroleum    4. Petroleum Engineering (General)    5. Petroleum industry    6. Petroleum industry and trade    7. Petroleum reserves    8. Power Resources    9. Science    10. Science/Mathematics    11. Technology    12. Economic geology    13. Petroleum & oil industries    14. Sustainability   

Subjects:  1. Geology    2. Petroleum    3. Petroleum Geology    4. Petroleum engineering    5. Prospecting   

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Engineering - General    3. Geology    4. Libya    5. Natural Resources    6. Petroleum    7. Petroleum Geology    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Technology    10. Technology & Industrial Arts    11. Petroleum technology    12. Technology / Petroleum   

Subjects:  1. Engineering - Civil    2. Engineering - Industrial    3. Fluid Mechanics    4. Mechanics - General    5. Petroleum    6. Probability & Statistics - General    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Stochastic Processes    10. Technology & Industrial Arts    11. Flow, turbulence, rheology    12. Geology & the lithosphere    13. Hydrology (freshwater)    14. Stochastics    15. Technology / Petroleum   

Reviews (1)

AMAZING!
AMAZING!!!That is the only word that could describe this book.It'swell made, easy to read, and highly interesting.The bounding is permanentplus it's three hole punched - a very hard to find feature!Read more

Subjects:  1. Chemistry - General    2. Education / Teaching    3. Research & Methodology    4. Science    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Teaching Methods & Materials - Science & Technology    7. Geochemistry    8. Petroleum geology   

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - General    2. Earth Sciences - Geology    3. Science    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Petroleum geology    6. Russia   

Subjects:  1. General    2. Geology    3. Natural Resources    4. Petroleum    5. Petroleum Geology    6. Technology & Industrial Arts   

Subjects:  1. Engineering - General    2. Gas well drilling    3. General    4. Medical / Nursing    5. Oil Reservoir Engineering    6. Oil well drilling    7. Petroleum    8. Reservoir oil pressure    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Technology    11. Petroleum technology    12. Science / Geology   

Subjects:  1. Engineering - General    2. Engineering Models    3. Fluid dynamics    4. Mathematical models    5. Mining    6. Oil well drilling    7. Petroleum    8. Petroleum Drilling    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Technology    11. Technology & Industrial Arts    12. Wells    13. Fossil fuel technologies    14. Petroleum geology    15. Technology / Mining    16. Technology / Petroleum    17. Technology-Engineering - General    18. Technology-Petroleum