Petroleum Abstracts

Petroleum Abstracts, published by the University of Tulsa, originated in 1961 in response to a perceived need by the petroleum industry for more cost efficient access to relevant information. The concern for cost efficiency in the petroleum industry was driven by declining oil prices resulting from an oil glut following the resolution of the 1956 Suez crisis. The abstracts cover approximately 500 journals, patents, and conference proceedings. Fields covered by the abstracts include geology, geochemistry, geophysics, drilling, well logging, well completion & servicing, production of oil and gas, reservoir engineering and recovery methods, pipelining, shipping, & storage, ecology & pollution, alternate fuels & energy sources, supplemental technology, and mineral commodities

Petroleum Abstracts appears as a weekly bulletin. Each bulletin has an author index. A key is provided for the abbreviations for journals and conferences to their complete titles.

The weekly bulletins are collected and bound into annual volumes. Unlike most other abstracts, e.g., Chemical Abstracts, the abstract numbers for Petroleum Abstracts are sequential from the 1st abstract in 1961 and do not start over at the beginning of each year. Subject, Author, and Patent Indices are provided for each annual collection. Abstracts are listed alphabetically by primary descriptor and also listed under as many as 5 secondary descriptors. For example under the primary descriptor ABOVEGROUND STOR FACILITY we find:

The article, LP-GAS DISASTER NOVEMBER 1984 - MEXICO CITY, is assigned abstract number 425,418 and is also indexed under the secondary descriptors; ACCIDENT, EXPLOSION, LIQUIFIED PETROLEUM GAS, MEXICO, AND TRANSPORTATION TERMINAL. Bibliographic information about the journal, conference, or patent in which this article or information appeared and which is necessary to ultimately locate the primary source can, of course, be found by locating the abstract, but is also available in Part II of the Alphabetic Subject Index.

Montana Tech has paper copies of all 172 volumes of Petroleum Abstracts extending back to 1961. Electronic searching of Petroleum Abstracts beginning with the 1965 abstracts is available through the Montana Tech Library.

Assignment Notes

Note that when you are asked to locate an article published in a given year, that year is the year that the article was published and may be different from the year in which the abstract appeared.

References:

Petroleum Abstracts, University of Tulsa, Tulsa (1961).