At the start of the new century, we can look at our modern high tech industry and see that oil has gone from a few oil seeps to the single most important raw material traded in the world, in volume and in value, in just over 100 years. The commercial history of the oil industry has been relatively short and dramatic. Where will we be heading in the next 100 years? It would be brave to predict 10 years from now, let alone 100. 100 years ago who could have predicted space travel, a man on the moon, the television, the computer, the internet? The list is endless. The 16th World Petroleum Congress serves as a forum for scientists, technical personnel, economists and management in the oil industry. The trends and outlooks integral to the future success of the industry are the focus of discussions, forums and presentations throughout the Congress. The presentations explore international business opportunities, exchange ideas on global issues, and provide the latest information on technology, business management and industry developments. The 16th Congress theme is Petroleum for Global Development: Networking People, Business and Technology to Create Value. closing ceremonies, the plenary papers, review and forecast papers, technical forum papers and all of the posters and interactive technology presentations. The first volume will contain all the ceremonies and plenary speeches, the Review Forecast Papers and a full index for the complete Proceedings. The other four volumes will contain all the technical presentations split into distinct groups: upstream; downstream: natural gas, petrochemicals and transportation; business management. As well as containing all of the papers, the Proceedings will include a forum review written by the chair of each, plus details of the question and answer sessions. A CD-ROM of the Proceedings is included in the cost of the Five Volume Set.

The WPC is dedicated to the application of scientific advances in the oil and gas industries, to technology transfer, and to the use of the world's petroleum resources. The Fifteenth World Petroleum Congress was held between 12-16th October 1997 in Beijing, China.

Presented in this publication are the results of a major study of the petroleum resources of the world as analyzed by Total Petroleum Systems. The distribution and volumes of resources available in these systems are critically important for the future of the world's economies. Geologic insights gained from studying these 149 systems and their constituent assessment units in 128 provinces and 96 countries, exclusive of the United States, allow a new look at petroleum accumulations and the rocks that are intimately associated with them.