Stuck at Home? Here Are Five Oil & Gas Reads to Keep You Company
Between social distancing and the endless slew of canceled events, we all have a lot more time on our hands. If you’re looking for ways to fill it – don’t worry though – Frackfeed has pulled together a list of oil and gas reads and that will satisfy both your inner book worm and desire to support oil and natural gas!
For the history buff: The Prize, by Daniel Yergin
Often considered one of the most comprehensive overviews of the history of the oil and gas industry, The Prize is a required read for anyone interested in energy. Written by Daniel Yergin, who Fortune called “one of the planet’s foremost thinkers about energy and its implications,” the book surveys the history of oil beginning in the 1800s, and up until the Gulf War in 1991. Business Week was not far off in calling it the best history of oil ever written.”
For the entrepreneur: The Frackers, by Gregory Zuckerman
Considered a classic today, The Frackers narrates the transformation of America’s oil and gas industry – one that made America the world’s fastest growing energy power and helped the country achieve energy independence. This is the story of George P. Mitchell, Harold Hamm, Aubrey McClendon, among other “wildcatters” who, against all odds, defied long-established oil companies’ outlooks and ventured, almost unimaginably, to extract oil and natural gas buried in shale rock deposits. This book will help you understand how the U.S. became a global energy power, and particularly, understand the successful business stories of these new “Rockefellers”, from zero to heroes.
For the finance aficionado: Crude Volatility, by Robert McNally
Keeping up with crude oil prices requires true grit these days. But making sense of how price volatility works and, most importantly, how it impacts the broader economy and geopolitical landscape, requires true wisdom. Robert McNally, the former top White House policy adviser on energy issues, makes sense of this apparent conundrum. In Crude Volatility, McNally outlines the why’s and how’s of crude oil price fluctuations, providing further color around today’s oil price environment.
For the politico: Windfall, by Meghan L. O’Sullivan
If there is a book that provides a comprehensive view on both the U.S. economic and geostrategic position resulting from the shale revolution, it is Meghan O’Sullivan’s Windfall. A former White House energy policy official, O’Sullivan explains how the shale boom granted unparalleled leverage to the United States, changing the rules of the global oil and gas game. Considered a must-read by top energy experts and analysts, Windfall proposes multiple prospective and strategic insights on how the US could wield its newly acquired energy dominance, both through hard and soft tactics.
For the dreamer: Make, Think, Imagine, by John Browne
Although Browne’s Make, Think, Imagine is not strictly about the oil and gas industry, it addresses technology and innovation as key drivers to solve some of humanity’s main issues, including increasing energy demand. Nonetheless, as the former CEO of BP, his reputation in all things energy precedes him. Browne makes a case for pushing forward technological advance, for continuing to search for progress and innovation, even if it requires a trial-and-error process to succeed, such as the case of the U.S. shale revolution. This is a book for those looking for an eloquent narration of how we can move forward as society through science and technology.