Current and authoritative with many advanced concepts for petroleum geologists, geochemists, geophysicists, or engineers engaged in the search for or production of crude oil and natural gas, or interested in their habitats and the factors that control them, this book is an excellent reference. It is recommended without reservation. AAPG Bulletin.

The aim of the book has been to focus on the origin, occurance, migration (of petroleum, exploration, drilling or mining of the hydrocarbons, and their uses, particularly the petrochemicals. Side by side, an attempt has been made to divert the attention of the people on the fact that it take a lot of painful efforts to extract petroleum and coal. Though it is a fact that the world cannot survive without these two non-renewable resources, it should be seen that the wants are minimized as far as possible.

Direct coal liquefaction, a synthetic liquid fuel process, is one of the major developmental alternatives for meeting the anticipated fuel demands for the twenty-first century. This work provides a retrospective assessment of past attempts in this century to develop synthetic liquid fuel and applies the findings to produce reliable and pertinent data for the future. Retrospective technology assessment, a recent methodological invention, is used by the authors to analyze the past synthetic liquid fuel programs and the reasons for their failures. Bringing to bear four different perspectives--economic, technological, policy, and historical--the authors draw broad conclusions that will help guide the next development effort in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) was given a mandate in the 1992 Energy Policy Act (EPACT) to pursue strategies in coal technology that promote a more competitive economy, a cleaner environment, and increased energy security. Coal evaluates DOE's performance and recommends priorities in updating its coal program and responding to EPACT. This volume provides a picture of likely future coal use and associated technology requirements through the year 2040. Based on near-, mid-, and long-term scenarios, the committee presents a framework for DOE to use in identifying R&D strategies and in making detailed assessments of specific programs. Coal offers an overview of coal-related programs and recent budget trends and explores principal issues in future U.S. and foreign coal use. The volume evaluates DOE Fossil Energy R&D programs in such key areas as electric power generation and conversion of coal to clean fuels. Coal will be important to energy policymakers, executives in the power industry and related trade associations, environmental organizations, and researchers.