The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters Author: Gregory Zuckerman | Language: English | ISBN:
B00C5R7CHK | Format: PDF
The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters Description
Everyone knew it was crazy to try to extract oil and natural gas buried in shale rock deep below the ground. Everyone, that is, except a few reckless wildcatters - who risked their careers to prove the world wrong. Things looked grim for American energy in 2006. Oil production was in steep decline and natural gas was hard to find. The Iraq War threatened the nation’s already tenuous relations with the Middle East. China was rapidly industrializing and competing for resources. Major oil companies had just about given up on new discoveries on U.S. soil, and a new energy crisis seemed likely.
But a handful of men believed everything was about to change.
Far from the limelight, Aubrey McClendon, Harold Hamm, Mark Papa, and other wildcatters were determined to tap massive deposits of oil and gas that Exxon, Chevron, and other giants had dismissed as a waste of time. By experimenting with hydraulic fracturing through extremely dense shale—a process now known as fracking—the wildcatters started a revolution. In just a few years, they solved America’s dependence on imported energy, triggered a global environmental controversy—and made and lost astonishing fortunes.
No one understands these men—their ambitions, personalities, methods, and foibles—better than the award-winning
Wall Street Journal reporter Gregory Zuckerman. His exclusive access enabled him to get close to the frackers and chronicle the untold story of how they transformed the nation and the world. The result is a dramatic narrative tracking a brutal competition among headstrong drillers. It stretches from the barren fields of North Dakota and the rolling hills of northeastern Pennsylvania to cluttered pickup trucks in Texas and tense Wall Street boardrooms.
Activists argue that the same methods that are creating so much new energy are also harming our water supply and threatening environmental chaos.
The Frackers tells the story of the angry opposition unleashed by this revolution and explores just how dangerous fracking really is.
The frackers have already transformed the economic, environmental, and geopolitical course of history. Now, like the Rockefellers and the Gettys before them, they’re using their wealth and power to influence politics, education, entertainment, sports, and many other fields. Their story is one of the most important of our time.
MEET THE FRACKERS GEORGE MITCHELL, the son of a Greek goatherd, who tried to tap rock that experts deemed worthless but faced an unexpected obstacle in his quest to change history.
AUBREY McCLENDON, the charismatic scion of an Oklahoma energy family, who scored billions leading a historic land grab. He wasn’t prepared for the shocking fallout of his discoveries.
TOM WARD, who overcame a troubled childhood to become one of the nation’s wealthiest men. He could handle natural-gas fields but had more trouble with a Wall Street power broker.
HAROLD HAMM, the son of poor sharecroppers, who believed America had more oil than anyone imagined. Hamm was determined to find the crude before others caught on.
CHARIF SOUKI, the dashing Lebanese immigrant who saw his career crumble and his fortune disintegrate, leaving one last, unlikely chance for success.
MARK PAPA, the Enron castoff who panicked when he realized a resurgence of American natural gas was at hand, one that his company wasn’t prepared for.
- File Size: 7178 KB
- Print Length: 417 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1591846455
- Publisher: Portfolio (November 5, 2013)
- Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00C5R7CHK
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,199 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering > Energy Production & Extraction > Fossil Fuels > Natural Gas
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in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Industries > Oil & Energy - #2
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in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering > Energy Production & Extraction > Fossil Fuels > Natural Gas
Because I live in an oilfield community and because I don't rely on the oilfield to put food on the table, I found this book extremely interesting. I'm an educator who has at times supplemented my income by working summers and weekends in the oilfield. Since I had to have a Commercial Drivers Licence to drive a bus as a part of my real job, it wasn't much of a stretch to get a tractor/trailer and tanker endorsement and haul water into and out of the oilfield. I've even hauled water to frac jobs. I've hauled water away from frac jobs. Thankfully I wasn't around much during frac jobs as they are incredibly noisy. This gives me a little different perspective maybe than the avg reader.
I've heard of Chesapeake and Sandridge. Actually know some people who work for them. It was incredibly interesting to learn how those two companies came in to being. Judging from the book I'd say that Awbrey McClendon and Tom Ward are borderline crooked, but my limited experience in the oilfield tells me that that's pretty normal behavior at the top of the ladder. There couldn't be as many crooked people at the bottom of the ladder if it didn't get a little crooked as you went up. I've heard of EOG and XTO and Devon. I know some people who work for them as well, so it was interesting to see how they fit into the picture.
I would've liked to have been a fly on the wall when Harold Hamm met with Obama in the WH. I'd like to think that Obama wouldn't have the gall to tell Hamm, "You didn't build that." but I'd proably be wrong. Oil and Water to the extreme.
My only complaint about the book is that I think it's very difficult for east coast writers to fully understand Texas and Oklahoma culture. Zuckerman missed a few details that I caught, I'm sure there's more.
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