This post is a review and commentary on the book World Atlas of Oil and Gas Basins by Li Gouyu, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. March 2011, ISBN-978-0-470-65661-7.
As an engineer I firmly believe that the value of any book is directly proportional to the number of graphs, tables and maps. So I was excited about getting this atlas.
So yes, I can find any map I like online so why am I - a millennial - wasting money on atlas when? Because I really like physical books that I can highlight, tab and sticky note, that's why.
Overall, I'm only moderately happy with with atlas.
In several respects this atlas was disappointing. A number of major oil and gas fields were left out.
This book is a better resource for actual basin mapping as it includes faulting, uplift and other geological features. The majority of the criticism is about showing actual known fields on the map. Basically, this book was written by a geologist (who cares why a oil/gas field is there) and I am a petroleum engineer (is there a oil/gas field there? What about a pipeline?).
Aside from these criticisms, the book is very nicely done and includes structural cross sections for major fields and detailed geological information. I use it frequently to brush up on geological and structural features, it serves as my reservoir/basin-characterization-for-dummies guide.
I'd be really happy if the author came out with a second edition that includes all of the fields and pipeline missed (noted above), notable exploration wells (aka $$ dry holes) and distribution of known shale resources.
DISCLOSURE: I have no financial connection to Amazon or the author of this book.
So yes, I can find any map I like online so why am I - a millennial - wasting money on atlas when? Because I really like physical books that I can highlight, tab and sticky note, that's why.
Overall, I'm only moderately happy with with atlas.
In several respects this atlas was disappointing. A number of major oil and gas fields were left out.
- Cantarell (in Mexico) was not on the map, this is surprising as Cantarell is a elephant field (18 Bbbl) that was discovered in 1976.
- The Troll Gas field was on the map but not labelled
- Orman Lange is not on the map.
- Map of the far Northern Sea and Svalbard (Norway) was cut off - which is an important exploration area. To be fair on the map of the arctic ocean basic map it does show the complete Norwegian offshore area but at a miniscule scale.
- Showed Israel as having no gas filds when the Leviathan gas field was discovered in 2010. To be fair this book was published in 2011 but given the other fields omitted, I'm not giving a pass.
- The Jubilee Field (discovered in 2008) offshore of Ghana was also absent.
This book is a better resource for actual basin mapping as it includes faulting, uplift and other geological features. The majority of the criticism is about showing actual known fields on the map. Basically, this book was written by a geologist (who cares why a oil/gas field is there) and I am a petroleum engineer (is there a oil/gas field there? What about a pipeline?).
Aside from these criticisms, the book is very nicely done and includes structural cross sections for major fields and detailed geological information. I use it frequently to brush up on geological and structural features, it serves as my reservoir/basin-characterization-for-dummies guide.
I'd be really happy if the author came out with a second edition that includes all of the fields and pipeline missed (noted above), notable exploration wells (aka $$ dry holes) and distribution of known shale resources.
DISCLOSURE: I have no financial connection to Amazon or the author of this book.
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