By Tyler Priest

Mr. Priest’s study marks the first telling of the modern history of Shell Oil.  His narrative covers important aspects of Shell’s corporate evolution but focuses on the companies pioneering steps into the deepwater fields of the Gulf of Mexico.  By demonstrating that deepwater methods were the result of accumulated knowledge and improvements to technical systems built over a half-century; Mr. Priest illuminates not only the history of Shell Oil but the modern history of the petroleum industry itself.  314pp. May 2007