David Morris, SPHR.........Director Human Resources


11 of 12 found the following review helpful:


A Good Introduction to the Topic of Petroleum Refining  Jul 18, 2006 By Gregory McMahan
My boss at work gave me this book in an effort to get me up to speed on the industries we monitor. Having absolutely no background in oil and natural gas (beyond some general remarks dropped here and there in my undergraduate engineering curriculum), I found the text to be very informative, albeit in a non-technical way. Potential readers of this text should note that the information is highly focused- the author only covers refining of petroleum, and not other topics of interest, such as oil field exploration and development or petrochemicals manufacturing.

I have to agree with some of the previous reviewers who correctly pointed that some of the information contained in the book, at least from a rigorous technical standpoint, was not entirely correct. However, that was not the intent of the text. The goal of this text is to introduce the key concepts of the petroleum refining industry, and explain them in a way that say, for example, the personal secretary to an oil executive would understand. I found myself having to consult some of my core textbooks in chemical engineering after reading various topics in the book for more detailed technical information. Those of you looking for the hard-core, quantitative, technical information related to this information, such as chemical processes and process economics, will be disappointed with this text. However, those of you who have a technical or scientific background but no real knowledge of the oil industry even at the rudimentary level (like myself) will find this book to be a good starting point for basic explanations of key concepts.

That said, I see the book as being very useful for those contemplating involvement in some way with the petroleum refining industry, or trying to make some sense of what industry insiders often say to outsiders. If the author takes it upon himself to correct the numerous errata in the book, I would definitely see this text being suitable for a lower division seminar course or survey course on one aspect of the petroleum industry.

In sum, this book more than lives up to its title. My only other complaint is the chapters in the book devoted to additives such as TAME and MTBE. Since they are no longer added to most fuels in the US, future editions might want to drop detailed coverage of this topic (but perhaps refer to them in a historical context). Mr. Leffler did an excellent job of demystifying an obscure but extremely important subject. For those of you with a non-technical background, I advise you to read this book one chapter at a time and bounce the key ideas off of an industry insider. For those of you with a technical background but no real knowledge of the oil industry, I strongly advise you to to read this book and then consult other relevant titles from PennWell Publishing (who incidentally publish the highly informative Oil & Gas Journal, as well as other publications on the oil and natural gas industries).

6 of 7 found the following review helpful:


Good for basics, sometimes oversimplifying  Jul 11, 2000 By Christian Kupper
This is a very good publication for anybody who wants to understand the basics of refining without too much chemistry or engineering details. Easy to understand, but sometime I would wish for a deeper discussion of the processes. It is a MUST for nontechnical staff in refineries (eg. finance) and it gives enough background for good discussion with engineers.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:


Oil Refining for "Dummies"  Dec 21, 2007 By Dirk J. Willard "Dirk Willard"
As an experienced chemical engineer new to downstream oil work, i.e., refineries, this book has been highly useful. I expect to use it as a quick reference years after mastering the field. William Leffler has written a simple, easy to read training program for engineers and non-engineers alike. If you are new to refineries or would like to know more about the subject, say from the perspective of ethanol refining, this is book for you. I suggest starting here and going on to harder material later.

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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:


Almost perfect  Dec 09, 2008 By Jersey Kid
I have a BA degree in International Studies and an MBA in Finance. I have been in market and competitor analysis with energy consulting firms and operating companies for 28 years.

I have relied on this book every step of the way.

Do not expect to get a detailed understanding of how refining works. If that is what you are seerking, you're not in the right place (hint: read the title!). What this spelndid little book does is give a business person enough background to understand the various processes, both individually and as part of the flow from crude oil to, for example gasoline. How good is this book? Well, it has been in continuous publication for some 20 years.

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