The A To Z Of The Petroleum Industry

The world as we have known it for the past century would have been very different without petroleum. Petroleum, particularly in the form of crude oil and its refined products, has been central to all aspects of modern industrial society and has been a major strategic geopolitical objective for nations. The 20th century was the age of oil, and at least part of the 21st century will be as well. Petroleum is used as an energy source and as a raw material for the production of an immense variety of chemicals and synthetic materials. Almost all the world's food relies on petroleum for fertilizer, pesticides, cultivation, or transport. Petroleum has been particularly dominant as a source of transportation fuels, an application for which cost-effective substitutes will be especially difficult to find. The A to Z of the Petroleum Industry presents a concise but complete one-volume reference on the history of the petroleum industry from pre-modern times to the present day. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, and over 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries on companies, people, places, events, technologies, and phenomena related to the history of the world's petroleum industry. Anyone interested in the history, status, and outlook for the petroleum industry will find this book a uniquely valuable source.

Provides an overview of all aspects of the petroleum industry. Following the introductory chapter on the history of the formation, discovery of petroleum, and development of the early industry, additional chapters discuss the search for oil; tools of the trade; drilling and completion; offshore drilling; production; storage; transportation; refining; marketing; petrochemicals; and environmental concerns.

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

This new work traces the growth of the American petroleum industry from 1899 to 1959.