The petroleum industry is arguably the most influential and important industry in the world. This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the economics of oil and natural gas extraction and production along with a detailed discussion of pricing, taxing, and markets of these most valuable commodities. The optimization of the time profile of revenues from individual fields is discussed along with the development of oil pricing, tax systems, and oil and natural gas regulation. This book will be of great value to petroleum engineers, students in business and economics, policy makers, and anyone else interested in the future of petroleum production.