Oil on the Brain: Adventures from the Pump to the Pipeline

by Lisa Margonelli

Book Overview

Oil on the Brainis a smart, surprisingly funny account of the oil industry-the people, economies, and pipelines that bring us petroleum, brilliantly illuminating a world we encounter every day.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385511450
• ISBN13: 9780385511452
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Nan A. Talese
• Length: 324 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.6" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Oil on the Brain: Petroleum's Long, Strange Trip to Your Tank

Especially relevant in these days of high gasoline prices, this book is everything you ever wanted to know about gasoline. It starts at the gas station and traces back to distributor, refinery, oil rigs, etc. all the way back to the countries that supply our crude oil. The book was first published in 2007 - before prices soared. It provides a thoughtful discussion of the mechanics and politics of gasoline. It is a "must-read" for everyone who complains about the high cost of gasoline

Excellent resource of information

I read this book as part of a review group associated with the petroleum industry. I have over twenty years of experience in the refining industry, so most of the information this book contains in that regard held little new information. However, it's important to point out that the book also didn't contain any misinformation. My experience with production and trading is limited, so I picked up a great deal of information on those aspects. If you are not familiar with the oil and gas industries, and would like to know the "how and why" of them, I would recommend this book highly. The author not only discusses domestic (US) production and supply, but also foreign areas, such as Nigeria. In short, I think this book represents the broadest, and easiest, source of information a lay person would find useful as a starting point for exploring an industry that affects all our lives.

Fascinating and Informative!

Lisa takes readers on a three-year 100,000 mile roundabout trip from the oil well to the pump. During this trip she not only keeps readers' interest, but is informative as well. At the pump we learn that 20 lbs. of pull takes the nozzle off the pump (preventing disaster to those forgetting to hang up the nozzle), backing over the pump causes it to easily break off at the base and automatically shut off, cell phones do not set off explosions, and sliding across the seat before getting out is not a good idea. At the tank farm, we learn that many refineries making California's uique blend are at least 20 days away by tanker - Trinidad, Finland, and Newfoundland. Pipelines are now at 90-96% capacity; the fuel moves at only 3-8 mph. We will need 37% more gasoline by 2025, but only 8,000 of our 16,000 miles were built within the last 20 years - probably because another 10,000 miles will cost an estimated $1 trillion. Next at the refinery, readers find out that those tall towers (fractioning) separate components by boiling point into 40 different trays; steam is the key ingredient in the process - 1.5 gallons of water is required for every gallon of crude. The Carson refinery near L.A. supplies nearly 40% of the city's needs and is investing $1 billion to store CO2 in underground wells; other environmental investments will cost another $300 million. Reducing gas flaring increases profits and helps the atmosphere. Worldwide, refineries are at 97% capacity - a major reason new ones are not being built is that profits are much greater for acquiring oil and refining it, though BP still earned $11.22/barrel in '03 on the West Coast. Ninety percent of U.S. drilling rigs are looking for gas. Diesel train engines (usually multiple) are used to power the drill, and the unit costs $70,000/day. Twenty years ago only 10% of holes were successful; now 90% are - aided by detailed seismic maps and near real-time analysis of bit location. Workers are paid $13/hour, work 12 on, 12 off for 14 days, then 14 off; turnover is high. The International Energy Agency estimates raising the average well recovery rate from 35 to 40% would create more new oil than now in all of Saudia Arabis. Persian Gulf pumping costs can be as low as $3/barrel, vs. up to $35 in the Gulf of Mexico; another study concluded U.S. oil is 69X as expensive to obtain as that in Saudi Arabia. Major oil-producing states tend to not invest in other industries, avoid taxing the populace, and are autocratic and corrupt. (So much for "trickle-down" economics?) In 1970 the U.S. supported the Shah's plan to build nuclear power plants in Iran; in 1976 we also supported them obtaining a nuclear reprocessing facility for plutonium. Fifty-eight percent of Iran's budget goes to organizations headed by clerics answering to the supreme leader - they have the ability to start protests, provide patronage, and suppress dissent. The poor (30-50% unemployment) receive subsidized food; all have access t

Viewing Our Oil Addiction from a Dozen Interesting Angles

For all its constant appearance in news of the business and political worlds, oil as an economic and chemically transformable commodity is remarkably little understood by the average person. Most of us have never seen a barrel of oil or an oil pipeline. Most of us have never watched oil being cracked in a petrochemical plant to produce gasoline or any of the dozens of other byproducts that permeate modern life. Most of us don't even know how much oil is contained in a barrel, or how much gasoline can be derived from a barrel of black gold. At most, we pull up at the pump and open our gas caps and our wallets. With OIL ON THE BRAIN, author Lisa Margonelli opens the doors into perhaps the most geopolitically and environmentally important world of the 21st Century, the mostly invisible world of oil. Structurally, Ms. Margonelli starts at the familiar gas station pump and moves successively backwards through the distribution, production, and exploration chains. At the earliest stages of her exposition, most of which take place in the continental United States, she captures her subject matter through a personal prism - individuals who represents that particular stage in the process of bringing gasoline and heating oil to the end consumer. Thus, we learn about gas station profitability from Michael Gharib, owner of the Twin Peaks gas station in San Franciso, gasoline distributorship from the friendly folks at Coast Oil (owner David Mitchell, dispatcher Chris, and driver/hauler Roger), and refining from optimization manager Ken Cole at BP's plant in Carson, CA. Finally leaving California, we move on to lessons in drilling from fourth generation oilman C.D. Roper somewhere in the wilds of East Texas, the questionable economics of the Strategic Oil Reserve in Louisiana from some nefarious deep cover security types with names like Mike and Buddy, and the commodities futures market from Tom Bentz, a senior energy analyst with BNP Paribas in Manhattan. Having apparently exhausted oil and gas operations in the U.S. Ms. Margonelli proceeds offshore to the non-domestic sources of crude -- Venezuela, then Chad, Iran, and Nigeria - before closing in China, the world's most voracious new consumer of oil and the U.S.'s perceived strongest new competitor for the world's energy resources. To her credit, the author moves from domestic operations to the global petroleum stage while still retaining a human touch with her subject matter. Rather than falling into an expository trap and producing a dissertation on global petroleum economics, Ms. Margonelli continues her story through that of individuals involved in, or affected by, the oil industry. Of course, one cannot talk about Venezuela without dealing with Hugo Chavez, nor can one talk about oil in Africa without addressing the manner in which people's lives and homes in those countries have been ruined by Exxon, the World Bank, and Royal Dutch Shell in the cause of providing cheap gas to American SUV drivers.

Facts *Can* Be Fun

As an environmental manager, I am so tickled when I find real discussion without an ideological agenda! (I call myself a radical moderate.) Ms. Margonelli is a true journalist. Her structure - Chapter One at the gas pump, back through the tanker trucks, refineries, drilling, geology--is a marvelous construct. Whle well-grounded in facts and engineering, this is somewhat a social history, and emphasizes profiles of people from the petroleum industry to illuminate the issues. I can't verify her extensive footnotes, but her lack of advocacy of a particular world-view (e.g., global warming, or faith in market forces) is refreshing. I am from West Texas so can verify the accuracy of these delightful depictions 'awl-fild trash'. Her statistics provide great insight into our energy challenges. Don't let her lose points in the non-fiction realm for her wry humor!