Revised and updated to reflect major changes in the field, this second edition presents an integrated and balanced view of current attitudes and practices used in sound economic decision-making for engineering problems encountered in the oil industry. The volume contains many problem-solving examples demonstrating how economic analyses are applied to different facets of the oil industry.;Discussion progresses from an introduction to the industry, through principles and techniques of engineering economics, to the application of economic methods to the oil industry. It provides information on the types of crude oils, their finished products and resources of natural gas, and also summarizes worldwide oil production and consumption data.

This book is a valuable tool in understanding the dynamics of the oil industry from both a broad and specific economic perspective. It contains insights into the underlying features and mechanisms of the oil industry and its many branches, as well as a special emphasis on relevant international problems. It also provides a wealth of statistical information and should be of interest to all concerned with energy matters” (Euroil). “Petroleum Economics, by Jean Masseron, is a fine introductory text to the entire scope of activities and economic conditions facing the world-wide petroleum industry” (AAPG Bulletin). “This book, already used by many organizations, should be especially useful for engineers, economists and managers concerned with energy matters, and also those who, beyond the technical aspects, wish to acquire and in-depth understanding of the economic mechanisms in a vital sector for world development today” (JCPT). Contents : Introduction: Principal economic characteristics. I. Crude oil supply and demand. 1. The crude oil market. 2. Technical cost of exploration and production. 3. Tax and legal aspects. II. The economics of crude oil transportation. 1. Transportation by tanker. 2. Crude oil pipelining. III. Finished products supply: refining. 1. The search for optimal economic conditions. 2. Present unit location and cost of refinery processing. 3. Legal organization. IV. Demand and marketing of petroleum products. 1. The petroleum products in the principal consuming countries. 2. The distribution of petroleum products. 3. The marketing of petroleum products. V. Petrochemicals. 1. General characteristics. 2. Economics of two large basic units. 3. The market for the principal finished products. 4. Problems of today. VI. Natural gas. 1. Natural gas supply in the world. 2. Transportation. 3, International markets and prices. Conclusion: Energy and petroleum problems of the future. Bibliography.

First Published in 1969. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book examines the ways that oil economics will impact the rapidly changing global economy, and the oil industry itself, over the coming decades. The predictions of peak oil were both right and wrong. Oil production has been constrained in relation to demand for the past decade, with a resulting four-fold increase in the oil price slowing the entire global economy. High oil prices have encouraged a small increase in oil production, and mostly from the short-lived “fracking revolution,” but enough to be able to claim that “peak oil” was a false prophecy. The high oil price has also engendered massive exploration investments, but remaining hydrocarbon stocks generally offer poor returns in energy (the energy return on investment or EROI) and financial terms, and no longer replace the reserves being produced. As a result, the economically powerful oil companies are under great pressure, both financially and politically, as oil remains the backbone of the global economy./div”Development scenarios and political pressure for growth as a means of solving economic woes both require more net energy, which is the amount of energy available after energy (and thus financial) inputs required for new sources to come on line are deducted. In today’s economy, more energy usually means more oil. Although a barrel of oil from any source may look the same, “tight oil” and oil from tar sands require much higher prices to be profitable for the producer; these expensive sources have very different economic implications from the conventional oil supplies that underpinned economic growth for most of the 20th century. The role of oil in the global economy is not easily changed. Since currently installed infrastructure assumes oil, a change implies more than just substitution of an energy source. The speed with which such basic structural changes can be made is also constrained, and ultimately themselves dependent on fossil fuel inputs. It remains unclear how this scenario will evolve, and that uncertainty adds additional economic pressure to the investment decisions that must be made. “Drill baby drill” and new pipeline projects may be attractive politically, but projections of economic and associated oil production growth based on past performance are clearly untenable.

This book, originally published in 1996, traces the development of US government policy toward the oil industry during the 1920s and 1930s when the domestic syustem of production control was established. It then charts the deveopment and collapse of oil import controls, and the wild scramble for economic rents generated by Government regulation. It discusses the two oil crises and the ‘phantom’ Gulf War crisis, and the importance of public opinion in shaping the policy agenda. It also provides an in-depth study of Congressional oil votes from the 1950s to the 1980s and the formation of oil policy, beginning with theories of economic regulation, the role of interest groups in developing the policy agenda and the role of money in politics.