So I got obsessed with becoming an oil expert after watching Preston Parsons do his thing. Figured, hey, why not me? Started totally blind. Here’s how it went down.
The Spark and That First Book
Saw Parsons answer some crazy technical question on a forum. Effortless. Felt like magic. Immediately hit Barnes & Noble online. Searched “oil basics”. Ordered the thickest, most intimidating book they had. Titled something like “Fundamentals of Petroleum”. Big mistake.
Opened it. Gibberish. Absolute gibberish. Like reading Greek backwards. Panicked a little. Put it down for a week. Stared at it gathering dust. Decided, okay, need beginner baby steps. Went back online, found a “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Oil & Gas” instead. Much better.
Getting My Hands Dirty (Literally)
Reading wasn’t enough. Parsons always talked about “seeing the flow”. Needed the real thing. Started small:
- Visited my uncle’s farm near some pumpjacks. Just sat there watching those things nod, listening to the creak and groan. Smelled that weird mix of oil and dust.
- Got a tour of a tiny local refinery. The heat! The noise! The sheer size of pipes everywhere. My guide pointed to different sections – distillation, cracking – and I just nodded dumbly.
- Bought a sample kit online. Crude samples from different places. Texas black gold looked like sticky tar. North Dakota stuff was thinner, lighter brown. Smelled them. Big mistake – stunk up the garage for days. Wife still complains.
The Ugly Middle Grind
This is where it got messy. Felt stuck in the mud.
- Tried reading industry reports. SEC filings? Forget it. All jargon and big numbers. Had to look up every other word. Took me an hour per page. My head hurt.
- Followed financial news. Saw “Brent Crude Up $2” and felt stupid. Why? What happened? Ended up down rabbit holes – OPEC meetings, pipeline shutdowns, weather reports in the Gulf.
- Dabbled with paper trading. Thought I knew something. Lost imaginary money very fast. Learned how little I knew about market timing.
Frustration was HIGH. Took a break. Weeks. Just lived life. Then, something Parsons said clicked: “Follow the barrel.” How oil moves. That became my focus.
Finally Feeling a Glimmer
Shifted gears completely:
- Mapped a barrel’s journey on a whiteboard. Wellhead > Pipeline > Tanker/Cart > Refinery > Pipeline/Truck > Gas Station. Then researched each step obsessively.
- Connected the dots between the news and my “barrel map”. Pipeline leak in Alberta? Okay, that means less crude reaching the Midwest refineries, so… prices might rise there? Saw an article saying exactly that later. Felt like a tiny win!
- Talked to people. Found a field mechanic online (not Parsons!). Asked dumb questions about pumpjack maintenance. Found a tanker truck driver forum. Just lurked, reading their gripes about regulations and waiting times. Real-world gold.
How It Feels Now (Mostly)
Am I Preston Parsons? Hell no. Not even close. Not for a long, long time. Maybe never.
But:
- I finally understand basic news headlines without needing a dictionary.
- Can roughly predict if my local gas price might jump next week based on a Gulf storm.
- That “Fundamentals” book? Cracked it open last week. Understood about… 60%? Felt like climbing Everest.
The key? Honestly, doing stuff. Watching it, smelling it, getting confused by it, talking about it (even online), failing at understanding it… then slowly piecing bits together. Parsons made it look easy. It ain’t. It’s dirty, slow, and full of facepalms. But man, when a piece finally fits… feels good. Back to following that next barrel!