Oil Exploration And Drilling, Oil, And Natural Gas

Environmentalists are one the biggest critics against the notion of increasing domestic oil drilling. By increasing the amount of drilling we do in the United States, we increase the risk of disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Disasters are hardly the only source of economic damage either, to find oil reserves under the ocean, seismic waves are generated into the ground. These waves bounce off the ground back up to the ship, where computers and scientist can use the results to make educated guesses on whether or not oil is located under the surface. These seismic waves can wreak havoc with marine animals like whales; where in one case over 100 whales beached themselves to get away from the painful experience (Nixon). Using seismic waves does not even guarantee that oil might be located underneath the surface, the only way to tell is to actually drill into the potential finds causing even more destruction for what might be for no gain. Once oil is found and drilling has begun, the amount of damage done to the environment can become unimaginable. The recent example is that of the Deepwater

Offshore drilling has become an essential part of today’s oil production and demand for energy. With the growth of population comes the increasing demand for oil. The oil industry today, is one of the most used providers of energy. Today in the 20th century the majority of the population in America has a car and cars needs gas to run. The oil reserves in the earth that are easily accessible via land are starting to run dry and are becoming harder to find. This is why we have begun to see more and more offshore oil drills. Although there are benefits of offshore drilling such as profit, lower gas prices, and becoming less dependent on foreign oil. There are also many drawbacks in which if something were to go wrong, the mistake would be catastrophic impacting the environment, the nature, and have trickling effects all around the world.

Coal, crude oil, and natural gas are all considered fossil fuels because they were formed from the buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago.

Offshore drilling is a topic of extreme debate and argument and one of the most debated parts of that is whether or not it benefits the economy in the U.S. One of the first things to note is that stopping offshore drilling could potentially damage the U.S. economy, and therefore how much energy we can overall use. According to Mason, Joseph R., author of, "The Oil Industry Supports Many Louisiana and Gulf Region Economies", we can see the statement, "the moratorium would produce broad economic losses within the Gulf and throughout the nation as a whole". We can gather, from this, that ceasing offshore drilling/offshore oil production, could potentially harm the U.S. economy, and as I said before the economy being damaged overall decides

Currently fossil fuels are the world’s primary energy source. The fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, and natural gases. Fossil fuels are organic materials formed from decayed plants and animals that due to heat and pressure from hundreds of

Americans have been drilling for oil for more than half of their existence. Before the 1850’s oil was of little use and had no market for commerce as there was not one overwhelming use for it. Until around the 1850’s, when technology advanced, with it sparking search for one of the most sought after natural resources that countries would later go to war over, petroleum oil. Early inventions like the kerosene lamp provided a new stable home necessity to live by, increasing the demand for crude oil. This would be met in part by Colonel Edwin Drake, who drilled the first successful oil well in 1858. While Drake’s invention for extracting crude oil from the ground would bring about a new era for industrialization, his “black gold” would bring about an even larger effect, the environmental disasters caused by man. For over one hundred and fifty years of drilling for oil, both on shore and offshore, has led to some of the worst catastrophes to both nature and mankind. While many of these catastrophes have led to the deaths of hundreds of crew members, they have also led to long lasting effects on the environment, local and national economies, legislation, regulations, and human morale. These following effects can be seen in the most recent and most contaminated marine oil spill in history. To the media and public it’s known as the British Petroleum offshore drilling oil spill in 2010.

According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), if America does not start producing oil at home the nation’s dependency on foreign oil will rise to rise to sixty-four percent by the year 2020 (Coon par 1). Representative Richard Pombo, a California Republican, commented on ANWR and the possibility of being able to decrease America’s dependency on foreign oil: “ANWR is not the whole solution, but I believe it’s the biggest reserve of oil we have in the United States and our best opportunity to lessen dependence” (Marek 37). By drilling in ANWR, the amount of oil that would be gained could possibly be equivalent to the amount of oil that could be accumulated from Saudi Arabia after thirty years or from fifty-eight years of independence from Iraqi oil (Coon par 2). When the United States imports oil that the average consumer uses, it adds up throughout the year, costing America roughly 330 billion dollars. That could be broken down into almost 37.75 million dollars every hour ("Top ten reasons to support ANWR development." par 7). Once America drills in ANWR, it provides scientists more time to figure out an alternative fuel (the oil supply in ANWR will only last about twenty-five years). This would sustain America long enough to explore the ideas of alternative fuel more thoroughly.

‘Peak oil’ refers to the prime of any field’s production, after which goes into terminal decline. Most major US oil fields are beyond peak oil. The largest US oil field, Prudhoe Bay, has been depleting since 1979 (Prudhoe, 2012). The US Energy Information Administration indicates much production, particularly in the Alaskan North Slope, depends on world oil prices (Energy, 2012). Geophysicists and politicians debate over specifications regarding overall US peak oil, arguing the year in which US peak oil occurred.

September 5, 1927 marked a turning point in the history of oil exploration. Before then, to assess the composition of subsurface rocks to find oil pay-zones, scientists had to rely on core samples brought up from boreholes. These were highly unreliable and drilling companies frequently missed oil zones. Conrad Schlumberger had the idea of running an electrical probe into the drilled borehole to measure resistivity through the formation. This first log taken in the Alsace region of France was a simple hand-plotted graph, but it effectively aided engineers to “view” what was inside the

America must wean itself off of dependence on foreign oil, and one valid solution to this problem is offshore oil drilling and production. America’s economy is heavily based on petroleum, as though it is the nation’s blood; a necessity for survival. About 25% of oil produced in the U.S. comes from offshore rigs. Most of the U.S. coastline has been off limits for oil drilling since the early 1980s. Due to environmental concerns after an oil spill off the coast of California in 1969, an offshore drilling moratorium was imposed. Since then, the U.S. has amplified its energy consumption to where it uses nearly 25% of the world's oil. Meanwhile, the U.S. produces about 10% of the world's oil. That has made the U.S. heavily reliant on imported

The Department of Defense has also taken the stand against this increased drilling. They are the means of providing the highest level of security to the nation and require areas to conduct testing, training, and research and development (R&D). These areas are critical for the DoD’s to continue to meet the technical challenges faced in the world today. Having oil rigs placed throughout these training areas would have a negative impact on training and future development of assets, as stated previously. Allowing for the oil exploration would decrease the DoD ability to conduct operations within the areas, the risks associated to dual use areas would be considered too high.

Since Donald Trump took office as President of the United States, he has been a constant figure in the news. Earlier this month, his administration announced a plan to open U.S. coastal waters to offshore oil drilling. According to the New York Times article, the plan lifts a ban that was put in place by former President Barack Obama and gives energy companies access to billions of acres of the U.S. coastline along the Eastern Seaboard, the Artic, and the Pacific waters off California.

There is some evidence that oil exists under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This has led to a huge debate as to whether or not companies should be allowed to drill for this oil. A law was passed by congress in 1980 that states “production of oil and gas from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is prohibited and no leasing or other development leading to production of oil and gas from the [Refuge] shall be undertaken until authorized by an act of Congress.” If these oil companies do succeed in abolishing this law, then a land that has stood virtually untouched would be destroyed for what the United States Geological Survey has estimated is only 6 months worth of oil.

Since the past few decades, owning a car has become a necessity in order to commute from one place to another. However, cars do not work automatically, they require fuel. Since the past decade, the petroleum industry has become one of the leading industries impacting the nation’s economy. Oil has become an essential commodity as it is utilized in transportation vehicles, serves as a raw material for manufacturing plastics, and is utilized in homes for cooking. America’s economy is greatly dependent on petroleum as it is the “black gold” of the nation. The considerable significance of oil has led to the drilling of it, which is not only limited to land, but also the oceans. Offshore drilling is a method in which petroleum is extracted from underneath the seabed. It is one of the significant technological advancements in the past few decades. However, the ones who are involved in the process of offshore oil production are humans, and humans tend to make mistakes. In 1969, due to a human error, an oil spill occurred and natural gas, oil, and mud shot up the well and oozed into the ocean (“Offshore Drilling”). The oil spilled led to an environmental disaster which killed thousands of marine animals and distorted the environment. In order to prevent the same error, the government passed a moratorium in 1981, banning more than 85 percent of the country’s oil drilling sites (“Offshore Drilling”). The moratorium restricted the United States to mass-produce its natural resource.

Saudi Arabian oil company is multinational company today is called Saudi Aramco. It is the largest oil corporation in the world with the largest proven crude oil reserves. The company is located in Eastern reign of Saudi Arabia. Exploration, production, refining, distribution, shipping and marketing are operates by the company. Saudi Aramco published in 1933 when the government of Saudi Arabia allowed for American company called Casco to drill about oil in Eastern reign of Saudi Arabia. In 1980 the Saudi Arabian government acquired full control of Saudi Aramco. The company has reported that oil reserves of about 260 billion barrels it has acquired. Also, it owns 263 trillion cu. ft. of natural