Oil on the Brain

Chapter Study Guide

Introduction
Vocabulary
Obsession, hydrocarbon, greenhouse gases, fulminate, Prudhoe Bay, Exxon Valdez,
Rosetta Stone, chimera, strategic petroleum reserve, NYMEX oil market, OPEC,
Venezuela, Chad, Nigeria, peccadilloes.
Study Guide Questions
1) What is the 'real oil, conspiracy?
2) What is our rate of consumption?
What's in that barrel of oil?
science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining2.htm
www.opec.org/library/FAQs/CrudeOil/q4.htm
1 Gas Station
Vocabulary
Uniformity, enigma, Sikh, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, New
Jersey, oligopoly (oligopolistic), FTC, DOE, antitrust.
Study Guide Questions
1) Approximately how many licensed drivers are there?
2) How much:
Gas is consumed per household per year?
Gas is consumed by the U.S. per year?
3) What is the U.S. gas consumption as a fraction the global total?
4) How much money is lost by the theft, robbery and employee theft of gas?
5) Compare the profit margins of various products (including gas) sold at 'gas' stations.
6) Is the oil business an oligopoly?
7) What are the significant events related to the gas business along a timeline using the
following key dates:
1950, 1972, the late 1960's, 1972, 1979, 1980
8) What is the average percent of income spent on gas?
9) What are your thoughts about the last paragraph of this chapter?
History of price of oil
zfacts.com/p/35.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Price_of_West_Texas_Intermediate_1999_to_June_2008.PNG

2 Distribution
Vocabulary
Proprietary, octane, EIA, Exxon Valdez, Chevron, Shell, Exxon, diesel fuel.
Study Guide Questions
1) What are alternative means to refine diesel fuel?
2) How many fuel tanker accidents occur per year?
3) What are some of the effects of buying houses in the suburbs?
4) What is your opinion about gas taxes considering the relationship between the state,
fuel taxes and road construction?
5) What is the growth rate of fuel consumption?
6) What are the issues regarding pipelines, distribution and volume?
7) How much oil is 'spilled' from cars, trucks and boats?
Production and consumption
www.worldwatch.org/node/1811
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:US_Oil_Production_and_Imports_1920_to_2005.png
www.peakoil.com/wiki/index.php/Global_Oil_Demand
3 Refinery
Vocabulary
Hydrocarbons, crude oil, EPA, NOx, CO2, CO, heavy crude, light crude, North Slope of
Alaska, Angola, Argentina, Oman, BP
Study Guide Questions
1) How many gallons of gas are refined per 10 minutes at the BP refinery?
2) What BP's position on global warming?
3) What is a catalytic cracker?
4) Are there issues with pollutants?
5) What is the price of regulation? What is the price of non-regulation?
6) Would you want a refinery on your neighborhood? Why? If not in your neighborhood,
then where?
7) Who absorbs the greatest risk from pollutants? Why?
8) What are the trends in gas demand?
9) What are the implications of and the reasons for switching from light to heavy crude
oil?
10) What is your opinion regarding the relationship between incentives, solutions and
business (profits)?
Where is that oil refined?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_refineries
www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/electricity/Oil_and_Gas/articles.cfm?ID=11829

science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining.htm
www.eia.doe.gov/neic/rankings/refineries.htm
www.nrdc.org/media/2007/070823.asp

4 Drilling Rig
Vocabulary
Mud logging, Texaco, Gulf, ground water, phytoplankton, kerogen, bitumen, crude oil,
natural gas, methane, butane, propane, hydrogen sulfide, Cretaceous, Jurassic, seismic
survey, boomtown, boom, NIMBY, OPEC, SPR.
Study Guide Questions
1) Make some comments about the attitude and pride taken by those working in the
drilling business.
2) Mud is pumped as a byproduct of the drilling processes. In what ways is that mud a
pollutant?
3) What is the origin of oil and natural gas (steps and some detail)?
4) What is the history of Texas oil?
5) What are the causes of a 'boom' for natural gas?
6) What has happened in regard to oil research incentives?
7) Do you think we should pay for (provide) incentives for oil research?
8) What is your opinion of NIMBY?
9) What is the state of employment in the U.S. oil industry?
10) What is the relationship behind the history of the 'Black Giant', OPEC and
government regulation of oil?
To Drill or not to drill
www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/business/19drillship.html
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGN0hMhPJ7w
visual.merriam-webster.com/energy/geothermal-fossil-energy/oil/drilling-rig.php
www.american.edu/TED/projects/tedcross/xoilpr15.htm

5 Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Vocabulary
SPR, salt domes, Gulf Coast, Yom Kippur, embargo, Iranian Revolution, GDP, OPEC,
geothermal gradient.
Study Guide Questions
1) What is the SPR?
2) What is importance of the Gulf Coast?
3) Summarize the history of events and oil policy for the following key points:
1930's oil policies, 1960-1973, Yom Kippur War
What were (and continue to be) the effects of the 'oil crisis' on the economy and the
related oil industry?
4) What was the 'second oil shock' of 1979?
5) What was the 'open trading' of 1984?
6) What is the purpose or role of the SPR in today's world?
7) Why do we utilize salt domes for the storage of oil in the SPR?
8) What problems do we face with the location of the SPR?
9) The author uses a metaphor to describe the SPR. Explain her metaphor of the shrike.
10) What are the effects of increasing the SPR, real or perceived, on the price of oil?
11) What has been our policy regarding the SPR post 9/11 and how has that affected oil
prices?
The SPR
fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/spr/spr-sites.html
www.logisticsmgmt.com/article/CA6562611.html

6 NYMEX Oil Market

Vocabulary
NYMEX, futures (market), commodities (market), Egypt, Argentina, Columbia,
Australia, Oman, Hugo Chavez, OPEC (cartel), Che Gueverra, oligopoly
Study Guide Questions
1) What is the NYMEX?
2) What is a 'future' and what is a commodity?
3) What effect has the oil futures commodity exchange had upon OPEC?
4) What percentage of the total barrels of oil traded actually results in the delivery of
product?
5) What is 'The Pit'?
6) When did the following non-OPEC countries record their highest oil production;
U.S.A., Egypt, Argentina, Columbia, United Kingdom, Australia, Norway, Oman?
7) What is Maxwell's prediction/warning for petroleum and energy?
8) Who is Hugo Chavez and what role does he play in the global energy scene?
9) Do you think OPEC is an Oligarchy? Why?
10) What has been (and continues to be) the effects of increased Chinese and Asian
production of goods?
Oil as a commodity
www.bloomberg.com/energy/
www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/06/business/06oil.php
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1a083616-5a3a-11dd-bf96-000077b07658.html

7 Argentina
Vocabulary
Caracas, PDVSA, Citgo, Simon Bolivar, Lake Marachaibo, Petrostate, IMF, OPEC,
subsidiary
Study Guide Questions
1) In what way could it be said that Venezuela is a subsidiary of PDVSA?
2) What is the brief history of the relationship between Chavez and the U.S.A.?
3) To whom does Venezuela export oil?
4) Who owns PDVSA?
5) See page 144. Who secretly wrote the 2001 National Energy Policy?
6) How does our (your?) perspective on the quote from the 2001 National Energy Policy,
differ from how Venezuela or other oil producing countries interpret the policy?
7) Who was Perez Alfonso and what role did he and Venezuela play in the formation of
OPEC?
8) What is the significance of Lake Marachaibo? What are the conditions at Lake
Marachaibo and Hornitos?
9) What are the U.S. plans for invasion and what policies is it based upon?
Oil, oil, who's got the oil?
www.globallngonline.com/Gas_Oil_Reserves.asp?q=or&ID=1020
www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/ve.html
www.cfr.org/publication/12089/venezuelas_oilbased_economy.html
www.opec.org/aboutus/history/history.htm

8 Chad
Vocabulary
Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ramadan, World Bank, Libya, sovereignty, zaghawa, warlord,
CAR (Central African Republic), DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Darfur,
Niger, Mecca, petrostate, Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, NGO, Exxon,
infrastructure
Study Guide Questions
1) What is the 'Exxon project' in Chad? What is Exxon's investment?
2) What is the general history of Chad 1961 through today?
3) What are economic conditions in Chad?
4) What is the condition of the infrastructure and the energy sources in Chad?
5) What is the relationship between the World Bank, Chad and the U.S.?
6) How do the U.S. Imports from Africa compare with the U.S. imports from Saudi
Arabia?
7) What effect has the discovery of oil had upon African nations?
8) Page 175-176 documents three studies of developing oil export nations. What is your
opinion/reaction to these studies?
9) What is your opinion of the Exxon-World Bank plan in Chad (consider the three
studies and the results of the plan)?
10) What are the conditions in Chad relative to human rights?
11) Summarize Chad's connection with and activities relative to terrorism.
12) What are the conditions in the Southern Chad oil fields; economic and social?
13) Why would a 'Texan' object to the conditions in Chad?
14) What are the conditions at NGALABA?
15) As of 2005, what are the levels of oil revenue and poverty?
Chad, oil and human rights
hrw.org/englishwr2k8/docs/2008/01/31/chad17744.htm
www.countercurrents.org/darfur220206.htm
www.cfr.org/publication/10532/chads_oil_troubles.html

9 Iran
Vocabulary
Persian Gulf, Persia, Iran-Iraq war, hegemony, Tehran, Frankfurt, Mullah, Islamic
Revolution of 1979, hostage crisis (Iran), Shah, Cleric, Bonyad, piety, Khomeini,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, NIOC, Island of Lavan, Strait of Hormuz, Basra, Kuwait, Saudi
Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Oman, Sirri Island, Israel, sanctions
Study Guide Questions
1) Summarize the events and attitudes of people in the Persian Gulf in 1988.
2) What events have transpired since the min-war with Iran?
3) What is Iran's perspective on nuclear development?
4) Summarize the history of U.S. Iranian nuclear development (through page 211). Note
the footnote on page 208.
5) What has been the historical connections and events relative to the 'shah' and the U.S.?
6) What are economic conditions of oil and gas price, consumption, supply etc., in Iran?
7) What are the Bonyads?
8) What are the levels and context of corruption in Iran?
9) Who is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and what is his political position and power in Iran?
10) What has been (and continues to be) the effects of the Iran-Iraq War?
11) What are the origins of the borders of the nations of the Gulf region?
12) Is war good for business?
13) What was the role of the U.S. in the Iran-Iraq war?
14) What percent of the world oil supply passes through the Gulf?
15) What was (and continues to be) the reaction of the Iranian people to the U.S.
bombing of oil platforms during the 'one-day-war' of 1988?
16) Summarize the relationship between Iran, terrorism and sanctions?
17) What angers Iranian citizens (such as Ms. Aresu in the book)?
18) What percentage of global oil and gas comes our of the Mid-East currently?
19) Are sanctions good or bad? What about over the next 10 years?
20) What is the Iran-China deal?
Iran: fossil fuel, geography and the facts
www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Iran/Background.html
encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761580640/iran-iraq_war.html
www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Persian_Gulf/Background.html

10 Nigeria
Vocabulary
Nigeria, Shell, Niger (River) Delta, 'bunkering', warlord, paramilitary, Oloibiri,
knackered, IMF, world bank, USAID,
Study Guide Questions
1) What percent of the Nigerian national budget is revenue created by Nigerian oil
exports?
2) What percent of U.S. oil imports is from Nigeria oil export?
3) What are the conditions and levels of violence in the Niger River Delta?
4) Summarize the 'Shell Oil' deal. What has been (and continues to be) the effects of the
Shell oil deal?
5) What is 'bunkering? What has been (and continues to be) the effects of bunkering?
6) What other piracy and smuggling occurs in Nigeria?
7) Summarize the World Bank study of oil revenues and it effects on the population
including the percentages of economic distribution of of revenues and benefits.
8) What are the conditions in Oloibiri?
9) See page 242. Summarize the history of Great Britain, Nigeria and the Ijaw.
10) Why is the relationship between Shell, the villagers in Nigeria and the Government of
Nigeria so ill unclear?
11) How has the number of attacks (Nigerian violence within their country) changed with
increased revenues from Shell Oil? Is this, in your opinion, an example of funding
violence?
Nigeria, oil and conditions
www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Nigeria/Background.html
www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/Africa/Nigeria.asp
ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0702/feature3/index.html?fs=travel.nationalgeographic.com

11 China
Vocabulary
GDP, hegemony, Beijing, Shaghai
1) What is China's GDP growth and oil consumption in the past 5 years?
2) What is happening recently concerning Chinese global oil deals?
3) What is the Chinese goal for renewable energy by 2020?
4) What is the '863 project'?
5) During the author's visit to China, she visited fewer places, talked to fewer people and
produced the shortest chapter with the least historical background for the book, as
compared to her visits to other places. What is your opinion about this deficit of facts and
history?
Other
www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,501041025-725174,00.html
www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/ch.html
References In a Wider Context
China-Iran
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/17/AR2007111701680.html
www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=129
Iran-Russia
query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A03E5DA153AF930A35755C0A9649C8B63
Oil pipelines, chokepoints and military
www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/World_Oil_Transit_Chokepoints/Background.html
news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/02/iraq_key_maps/img/maps/iraq_oil_map485.gif
www.onlineopinion.com.au/images/article-images/shaw_oil_corridor.gif
www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/images/iraq-oilfields-map.gif

www.fcnl.org/images/iraq/IraqMap2008WEB.gif