The availability of oil and gas for future generations continues to provoke international debate. In 2005, the first edition of Resources to Reserves found that the known hydrocarbon resources were sufficient to sustain likely growth for the foreseeable future. Yet the book also predicted that developing oil and gas resources – and bringing them to market – would become more technically demanding.

Resources to Reserves 2013 – a comprehensive update to the 2005 edition – confirms these earlier findings and investigates whether oil and gas resources can be produced at a reasonable cost and in a timely manner, while also protecting environmentally sensitive areas. Released amid a boom in shale gas and oil development in North America that is transforming the global energy landscape, the book surveys the cutting-edge technologies needed to find, produce and bring these reserves to the market, and it reviews the challenges on greenhouse gas emissions associated with fossil fuel production. With renewed interest in coal as a potential source of liquid and gaseous fuels, it also looks at technology advances for this fossil fuel.