The dire predictions of recent decades about the atmospheric effects of
burning fossil fuels are being increasingly borne out, and are evoking fuller
acknowledgement from businesses and governments. Yet to a large extent
institutional denial persists, as fuel consumption continues to soar and
petroleum industry profits break all records. What is to be done?
This book may not hold the ultimate answer, but it provides more information
and solidly grounded insight into the scope of available options than the
reader will find elsewhere. Hailed in its first (2000) edition as an
indispensable resource for petroleum policymakers at every level, <i>Bernard
Taverne's Petroleum, Industry and Governments</i> has been fully updated
to take into account the full spectrum of recent developments-national,
regional, and international-as well as presenting a newly calibrated survey of
available policy options. The coverage of the subject is prodigious, and
includes the following and much more:
extraction and production technology;
factors determining economic value of petroleum;
political risks incurred by the petroleum industry;
pricing systems;
climate change petroleum policies;
national and international legislation;
licensing regimes and production sharing agreements; and
petroleum and the law of the sea.
Underlying much of the analysis and discussion are fundamental concerns with
the ultimate exhaustion of oil and gas reserves, prospects for practicable
economic alternatives, and control of CO2 emissions.
Because so much has happened in the field since 2000, all who depend on
Petroleum, Industry and Governments will need this updated and significantly
rewritten edition. At the present moment, and for some time to come, it
remains an incomparable guide, both in theory and practice.
