Hello guys!
instead of arguing which language suits better the oil business, what don't you just advice your colleague to look for his book under 4shared for instance using the keyword "ifp".
I've given it a try, and there were some interesting books.

Regarding the language, I would say it depends on the situation and people you work with! there is no way to shift to English and field units if you interact with French natives or even not, in a country where French is almost an official language! and the system is almost a generalized metric system

Regards,
Kader