Crude Oil. The main conventional oil source is crude oil. Crude oil is better known as

Transcription

1 Brianna Kasper February 20, 2006 IDS 102 Energy project Crude Oil The main conventional oil source is crude oil. Crude oil is better known as petroleum. According to the Colliers Dictionary, petroleum means vicious, flammable liquid occurring naturally, usually beneath the earth s surface, consisting of a mixture hydrocarbons, with traces of organic sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen compounds. Petroleum yields various products, as gasoline, diesel, and lubricants, and many derivatives used in the manufacture of various products. The word petroleum is a Latin word and when translated it literally means rock oil. The main reason crude oil, or petroleum is so important is because it is one of the main sources of energy for the United States and the rest of the world. The United States is the number one consumer of petroleum. The U.S consumed more than 20.6 million barrels of oil per day in the first nine months of The annual worldwide consumption of oil is about 25 billion barrels a year. As stated before, the U.S. is the number one consumer of oil with an average of million barrels of oil a day. Number two was Japan with million barrels a day. One of the countries that consume the least amount of oil is Taiwan with only.846 million barrels a day (2). In the 1950 s, the United States was the number one producer of oil. However as the years past, the rate of discovery decreased, as you can see from the graph (2).

2 Many refineries have had to close in the U.S. Over the past 30 years, no new oil refineries have been built (2). Because of this decrease in production, the U.S. now has to depend more and more on other countries for their oil. The use of crude oil is very significant in our everyday lives. There are many uses for crude oil. The most significant uses include gasoline, aviation fuel, heating oil, residual fuel, asphalt, and lubricants. The uses of these types of crude oil run our cars, heat our houses, and make up the roads we drive and walk on. A few of crude oil s many other uses include paraffin waxes, kerosene, recoil oils, rubber tires, inks and paints. The main use for petroleum is gasoline, which accounts for just over 40%. The other uses for crude oil (paraffin wax, kerosene, etc.) require the petroleum to go though many different refining steps and can only be made from certain parts of the oil. That is why these sources aren t used as much gasoline and fuel (4). In the first nine months of 2005, 44% of crude oil used was motor gas, 20% was distillate fuel oil, 8% was jet fuel and 4% was residual fuel. As of November 14, 2005, the United States had 684 million barrels of oil in reserves in the Texas, Louisiana, and the Gulf of the Gulf of Mexico. We keep these barrels in reserve incase of a shortage of

3 oil. We had about 700 million barrels before the major hurricanes but due to the destruction of many of the refineries in the Gulf, the price of gas increased dramatically. President Bush allowed the release of 30 million barrels to help keep the price of oil down. Even with the advantages in petroleum geology, for every four barrels used today, only one new barrel is found (2). This figure (3) suggests the ultimate discovery of about 1.8 trillion barrels of oil. If so, about 165 billion barrels remain to be found. Adding to this, 830 billion barrels still exist in fields. This, according to the graph and estimates, gives us 995 billion barrels remaining to be produced (3). However, some people will argue against this fact. Some believe that we will run out of oil in the next ten years. Others, like the spokespeople for major oil companies, will argue that we will never run out of oil. It is hard to say when we will run out of oil because it is very hard to predict how much oil the world will consume in the future. The EIA projects that the consumption of oil will decrease due to its rising cost (2). But again, others will argue that we are dependent on oil and will continue to use it, no matter what the cost is. I believe that it is not a matter of if we will

4 run out of oil, but when will we run out of oil. As I stated before, this is a very hard number to predict. However, the world is slowly moving to other alternatives to oil, so I predict that our dependency on oil will decrease. Petroleum is a mixture of naturally occurring compounds from within the Earth that contain hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. When it is a solid, it is asphalt, when it semihard is tar and can be refined into gas. Crude oil must go though a series of stages while it is refined. After flowing under pressure, through the well, natural gas is separated and removed, and liquid oil is stored. A series of pumping stations forces the oil to the refining storage tanks. At the refinery, the gasoline and other gases are separated thermally in a fractionating tower and individually treated for their uses. This procedure has been used for many years (4). I did find some research from 2004 about a new pump they were testing. It was a hydraulic pump that reduced operating costs and increased domestic oil recovery. In all of its tests, it was successful. However, when I tried to research it more to see if it is now being used, I could not find anything (2). Other than the pump, or a few minor changes, the process of drilling and refining oil has not changed very much. One advancement that has been made scientifically is the use of petroleum geologist. These are geologists that deal specifically with the search for new supplies of oil. Chances are that only 3 out of every 100 wells drilled will make a commercially profitable discovery. Because of this, larger oil companies maintain geological staffs (4). There are many risks associated with the use and production of crude oil. The most common types of accidents are equipment failure, natural impacts (earthquakes, hurricanes) and personal mistakes. With these accidents comes a serious problem to our environment. If the refinery or well is by the water, then all the oil contaminates the

5 water. To clean up these spills can cause millions of dollars in damages and many animals loose their lives. Also, to build new refineries ruins the environment around it. In 2004 the Senate voted on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Luckily, it didn t pass. If it had passed, it would have ruined the habitat for all the animals that live there (1). They would have had to build wells and drills and create roads to get to these drills. This would have defeated the point of the wildlife refuge because we would be ruining it. Another main problem with the use of crude oil is that adds to the problem of the thinning ozone layer. The main use for crude oil is gasoline. When gasoline is used in our cars, it emits gases that pollute the air. This pollution, along with all of the other pollutants, causes the ozone layer to become thinner and thinner. This thin ozone layer allows UV rays and other harmful rays from the sun to penetrate the earth, thus causing skin cancer. Another main problem with the use of oil is how the price increases along with the situations on the world. From the graph you can see that throughout history, whenever we have a major event go on, the price of oil increase

6 throughout history, whenever we have a major event go on, the price of oil increases. After 9/11, the price has continuously increased. Also, forecasters predict that the price of a barrel of oil will not go down until the beginning of 2007(2). Many trucking companies, stores, and other businesses that have to use oil in some was have to raise their prices just to accommodate these high gas prices. I believe that we will be able to rely on oil as an energy source for many years to come. However, I believe that the new advancements in finding energy other places will be used more that oil in the future. The price of a barrel of oil is continuously increasing, and everyday people will not be able to afford it. I believe that they will look elsewhere for their energy. Another fact to consider is that there is only so much oil left in the world, and one-day, we will run out and have to get our energy from other sources. So we should focus our attention of finding these other, cleaner ways to fuel our planet.

7 Works Cited Feb Feb Feb Petroleum. Collier s Encyclopedia