The Color of Oil: The History, Money & the Politics of the World's Biggest Business by Michael Economides, Ronald Oligney, Armando Izquierdo, Micheal Economides Publisher: Round Oak Publishing Company; 0 edition (March 1, 2000) ISBN: 0967724805 Check price @ amazon.com , amazon.ca , amazon.co.uk

Douglas Perret Star, Journalism Professor at Texas A&M University

This book has vastly more impact on world commerce than columnists like Buckley, Goodman and Safire.

Book Description

The primary colors of oil today are money (lots of it), technology (basic but demanding) and people (special ones). The colors of the rainbow can be seen in the 100+ oil producing countries. There are a dozen large petroleum producing and exporting countries. Yet most have little in their history that links them to wealth, technology and management. Corruption among the elite and governments, mismanagement and the squandering of the petroleum wealth are endemic. Culture is everything, and no other human endeavor makes this as pointedly obvious as the world of petroleum.

Book Info

Discusses the influence of petroleum and energy on civilization today and those involved in the oil industry. DLC: Petroleum industry and trade.

From the Author

What was your motivation behind writing this book?

Economides

Well, first we really wanted to tell a story, pieces of which we have told many times. It is a story that needs to be told and has not been told before. We also wanted to bind together, in almost metaphysical terms, society and this particular industry because we think that the impact, influence and importance of petroleum on humanity are civilization-shaping. We wanted to stress the international side of the industry. We take this for granted and yet the fact that my co-author Ronald Oligney and I have worked in 72 countries, perhaps excessive even by oil business norms, is absolutely incomprehensible to all outside the industry.

About the Author

MICHAEL J. ECONOMIDES is University Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Houston. Until the summer of 1998, he was the Samuel R. Noble Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University and served as Chief Scientist of the Global Petroleum Research Institute (GPRI). Prior to joining the faculty at Texas A&M University, Professor Economides was the Director of the Institute of Drilling and Production at the Leoben Mining Institute in Austria (1989-1993). From 1984 to 1989, Dr. Economides worked in a variety of senior positions with the Schlumberger companies, including Europe Region Reservoir Engineering and Stimulation Manager and Senior Staff Engineer, North America. Publications include authoring or co-authoring of 7 textbooks and more than 150 journal papers and articles. Economides does a wide range of industrial consulting, including major retainers by national oil companies at the country level and by Fortune 500 companies. He is the founder and a major shareholder in OTEK (Australia), a petroleum service and consulting firm with offices in four Australian cities. In addition to his technical interests he has written extensively in wide circulation media in a broad range of issues associated with energy and geopolitical issues.

RONALD E. OLIGNEY is adjunct professor and director of engineering research development at the University of Houston. Previously, Oligney held a number of technical and executive positions within the Texas A&M University System, including Adjunct Professor of Petroleum Engineering; Assistant Director of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station; Director of the Aerospace Vehicle Systems Institute and Principal and Founding Director of the Global Petroleum Research Institute. Oligney is also former Vice President of a New York energy concern and the principal on-site negotiator for one of the first petroleum joint ventures in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. In 1991, he co-founded an environmental consulting and contracting firm in Australia. Today, OTEK Australia Pty Ltd. is one of the premier environmental service companies in all of Southeast Asia. Oligney has performed extensive technical, R&D and management consulting services for government, service companies and major and independent producers in Colombia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Oman, Venezuela, the West Indies and several states in the United States. Mr. Oligney has been advising various parties in Washington DC regarding the current energy situation. Prof. Oligney has written for numerous newspapers and specialized publications, including the Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Business Journal. He is the co-author of the newly released book, The Color Of Oil. He lives in Houston with his wife and six children.

Customer Reviews

A Great Page Turner!, November 20, 2002
Reviewer: A reader from Tulsa, OK United States
When a colleague suggested I read this book I was expecting a really bland read. Boy, was I surprised! This book is very well written and filled with lots of good and interesting information. A newer book that goes into great detail on oil economics, reserves, etc. and vulnerabilities post-9/11 is Terrorism & Oil by Neal Adams. It's a real eye-opener.

Too much fluff, October 22, 2002
Reviewer: Bradd Libby from Amherst, MA United States
We hear so much about turmoil in the Middle East from economic, political and religious perspectives that, as a chemical engineer, I sought out this book in hopes of gaining some additional 'behind-the-scenes' insight into the dynamics of the industry that most strongly affects, and is affected by, this unrest. This wasn't the book I was looking for.

I won't say it's a bad book; it's non-technical easy reading, it just didn't suit my needs. For instance, there is no table of, say, the world's top ten exporting countries or of proven reserves by country, but yet there's an 11-page biography of the life of John D. Rockefeller (including a 2-page summary table with several portraits of him throughout his life). For some unexplained reason, there are 10 color plates of computer-generated artworkm, which adds absolutely nothing to the book.

The authors understandably are optimistic about the future of the oil industry and justifiably critical of the environmentalist movement. They give a good description of why, for example, Saudi Arabia can't just 'open the spigots' and flood the markets with cheap oil, but we're forced to wade through so many pointless personal anecdotes that it makes it almost not worth reading the book to get to these useful parts.

In short, I'd recommend this book only if you need to read something about the oil industry and have no other alternatives. Otherwise, go for _Hubbert's Peak_.

Good Public Relations exercise., October 13, 2002
Reviewer: Igor Biryukov from Boston, MA
Reading this book I couldn't suppress a suspicions that this book was written for PR purposes. The people who wrote it are, undoubtedly, very knowledgeable in their area - i.e. the oil industry, but still... Many pages are dedicated to how the US government had been trying to put a straitjacket on the oil industry. Another theme is inefficiency and greed of oil-producing countries. The only 'sacred cow' in the book is The Big oil, and unfortunately it is excluded form meaningful critical analysis. From my perspective, the book's goal is make you feel good about oil industry. It is a good book for that purpose. Unfortunately, although it presents some tidbits of really curios information, this book is essentially shallow. I would recommend it for a college student who wants to join oil industry, but isn't sure. This book would cement his or her decision. But if you seek a truly good book on the subject go for 'The Prize' by Daniel Yergin. I am reading it now and I believe it is more balanced and simply more interesting.

Rose Colored Glasses for a Dying Industry, December 31, 2001
Reviewer: A reader from Seattle, WA USA
I liked Economides book. It was well-written, entertaining and concise. Unfortunately, it simply did not reflect the reality of the future of oil, since the major forecasts for oil production all indicate that by 2030, yearly oil production will probably be no more than 30% of today's totals. You can check out Hubbert Peak for more information.

Since the only energy security we as a nation can be assured of is an energy futre that we control from within our borders, if you want to read a book that more accurately reflects the reality of energy and the future we must build, read Power Surge: Guide to the Coming Energy Revolution by World Watch Institute.

Simply a great read, December 26, 2001
Reviewer: Gunnar Haid from Sydney, Australia
This book is both a great introduction into the petroleum industry for non-oilers as well as a goldmine of information for insiders. Rather complicated connections between economies, politics and technology are presented in an almost disarmingly simple manner and there is an abundance of mind-boggling facts inside. Every chapter shows an amazingly comprehensive knowledge that both authors have acquired over the past decades inside AND outside this industry and the book is a great read. It comes highly recommended.

A great gift!, November 26, 2001
Reviewer: A reader from Houston, TX USA
A wonderful book for those in the industry and those who would like more information about the world's biggest business! I do not work in the oil industry but haved lived in Houston all my life. Therefore, I felt I should know something about the industry that keeps this town employeed. I was amazed at how well the book is done. I really feel like I have a much better appreciation for the oil industry. I passed the book on to my friends who work in the industry, and they also felt like they learned something from it. As one of them said, "It made me feel like screaming 'Yes!' Someone finally understands this business." I am buying more as gifts for those hard to buy for people.

Well-written and entertaining., September 5, 2001
Reviewer: Hilde Bygdevoll from Oslo, Norway
I decided to read "The color of oil" as an introduction to the oil-industry. The authors (Economides and Oligney) are both "oil-guys", so I was a little skeptical to what level the language would be on. But fear not, the book is kept on an accessible level, even for the lay reader.

The authors explains why and how vulnerable the industry is, about the more resent but also the past oil-crisis, how little it takes for the oil-price to spin out of control, governmental interference and how the politics in the industry works (or don't...) etc. Together with this comes, quite naturally, a large dose of American history.

To the authors' credit, they strike the perfect balance between facts, technical jargon, and personal anecdotes, which makes "The color of oil" an easy and entertaining read. I found it to be a great overview over the industry. I picked up lots of new facts from this book, and I am most certain that I will cite this book in the future.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to fill in (or update) on the knowledge of the oil industry.

At last! Clear thinking and writing about a murky industry, June 6, 2001
Reviewer: Philip E. Lewis from Atlanta, GA
With a one-two punch of factual data and anecdotal stories, Economides and Oligney peel open the somewhat dark and mysterious ways of petroleum in modern culture and commerce. It was particularly fascinating (and somewhat gratifying) to read how the oil industry's own political self-dealing for the first half of the twentieth-century (always with the more-than-willing assistance of supposedly populist politicians) nearly led to its own demise in the 1970s and 80s... And, the impact of those lessons in the so far relatively laissez faire 90s and 00s and into the next century.

I am somewhat baffled by the assertions of reviewer Stephen Mark, especially about the book's "extremely political" and "ungrammatical" nature. If anything, The Color of Oil exposes the foibles of politics and is an appeal to reason, which of course, is essentially (in the truest sense) apolitical. I found the book well-written and entertaining. Check out the anecdote about Stalin's admonition to his oil minister during WWII: "if Hitler gets one drop of oil, we will shoot you..." I won't give the rest away...

If you're the least bit interested in the oil industry, you are in for a real treat...

The Color of Oil is for Me?, July 10, 2000
Reviewer: A reader from Houston, TX
When I was given this book I was reluctant to read it because I do not like history and the only interest I have in oil is how much money I pay to put gas in my SUV. In fact, it sat on my coffee table for weeks until I finally opened it up. To my surprise I found the book to be quite interesting (the illustrations are excellent)and one that I'll pass on to others.

Good Overview of the Industry, May 22, 2000
Reviewer: A reader from Houston, TX
The book provided a good overview of the industry for those not in the oil business.

The analogy to colors provided a good reminder of each section. The authors did a good job in helping the reader to have an understanding of the industry within the context of history and economic conditions.

A good read.....not too intimidating nor too technical. A quick read as well. Written so as not to lose the reader.