Is there a low-carbon future for the oil industry? Faced with compelling new geological evidence, the petroleum industry can no longer ignore the consequences of climate change brought on by consumption of its products. Yet the global community will continue to burn fossil fuels as we manage the transition to a low-carbon economy. As a geologist, oil man, academic and erstwhile politician, Bryan Lovell is uniquely well placed to describe the tensions accompanying the gradual greening of the petroleum industry over the last decade. He describes how, given the right lead from government, the oil industry could be environmental saviors, not villains, playing a crucial role in stabilizing emissions through the capture and underground storage of carbon dioxide. Challenging prejudices of both the environmentalists and the oil industry, Lovell ultimately assigns responsibility to us as consumers and our elected governments, highlighting the need for decisive leadership and urgent action to establish an international framework of policy and regulation. Bryan Lovell comments in a US News & World Report article on Exxon's potential to 'go green' - click here Video from a performance of a folk song inspired by the book, written and performed by Mike Excell at the Woodman Pub, Ware, UK. (Recording courtesy of Tony Dawes.)

1 Geologists on the road to Kyoto 1 2 A crucial message from 55 million years ago 20 3 An Atlantic divide in Big Oil 42 4 What is the oil industry supposed to do? 67 5 The size of the problem and the scale of the answer 91 6 Safe storage: from villain to hero 118 7 Taking it a decade at a time 151 8 The proof in the puddingstone 172 References 197 Index 207