Oil and Gas
Zoe Atkinson
Oil/Petroleum
• A non-renewable resource
• Widely used in industry, many types of
transportation, and residentially
• Made up of Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen,
Oxygen, and Sulfur, and minimal traces of
Metals
• Is obtained by drilling into land or ocean
crust and pumping oil out
Oil pipelines are often used to transport oil within a country or continent.
How it is Made
• A Fossil Fuel created by the fossilization of organic
materials such as vegetation, plankton, and other
animals, this matter is called Biomass
• Biomass was deposited on the earths surface millions of
years ago and was covered with thick layers of
sedimentary rock
• Intense heat and pressure turns the organic matter into
Kerogen, then with more heat and pressure into oil, and
when even more heat and pressure is added it turns into
natural gas
Uses
• Petroleum is refined and used in many
different types of fuels such as gasoline,
diesel, jet fuel, and kerosene, these fuels
are burned to provide energy
• Used in various Lubricants
• In wax form as packaging of frozen foods
• Street Asphalt
• Paraffin Wax
• Sulfur and Sulfuric Acid
Oil Usage per Capita
Wealth
• Petroleum is a limited resource which is vital to
our way of life and therefore it is very expensive
• Oil costs about $80 a barrel at this time
• Petroleum deposits are concentrated in different
areas around the world which makes certain
countries very reliant on oil profits
• The uneven distribution of oil resources has
cause countless political issues
• The top exporters are Saudi Arabia, Russia, and
Norway
• Canada is the 15th highest exporter of oil
Oil Exports
Oil Spills
• Oil is often transported by huge barges across our
oceans and these barges can leak or sink
• Contaminates the water and kills marine life
• Covers marine birds and prevents them from flying, and
they can die from ingesting the oil when they try to clean
themselves
• Oil covers sea otters’ fur and fills in the air pockets
leaving them vulnerable to hypothermia
• Oil can plug the blow-holes of whales, and stop their
breathing, whales can also be poisoned by eating fish
contaminated by oil
• Oil in the water kills thousands of small organisms which
disrupts the natural food chain
A drill is being used to pump oil out of the ground.
Environmental Effects
• Oil production and transportation can disrupt animal
communities and destroy land
• Damage to the environment occurs at all stages of oil
use, searching, drilling, pumping, refining, transporting,
and consuming the oil
• Oil waste dumping, production pollution, and toxic runoff
can contaminate water and soil killing plants and animals
• When oil is burned it produces carbon dioxide which
builds up in the atmosphere creating the greenhouse gas
effect and global warming
• The combustion of oil also produces sulfur dioxide and
nitrogen dioxide which seep into air moisture and fall as
acid rain which destroys buildings and crops
Solutions
• Worldwide, we need to greatly reduce our usage of oil
and petroleum products
• Only use renewable, less polluting energy sources such
as hydro, solar, wind, or wave energy
• Walk or take public transportation when possible
• Eliminate the use of disposable plastic items such as
bags, cutlery, toys, food packaging, etc.
• Buy local goods to eliminate transportation
• Invest in researching alternative energy sources
especially ones that could be used in transportation such
as Biofuel, or hydrogen combustion
• Educate others about the problem and solutions
Sources
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_oil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum#Export
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/oil_spills.htm
http://www1.american.edu/ted/projects/tedcross/xoilpr15.
htm
• http://postconflict.unep.ch/sudanreport/sudan_website/d
occatcher/data/Photographs%20Figures%20and%20Ca
ptions%20by%20Chapter/Ch7/Chapter%20photos/7.4d
%20Waste%20oil%20discharged%20DSC_0138.JPG
• http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0214752/problems-2.html