Crude Awakening
Most of the United States transportation and equipment has oil in it or uses oil to run. What are we going to do if we run out? Has the government thought about it? Yes, they have and are experimenting with other products that may possibly substitute oil. Government scientists estimate that there is about 2.6 trillion barrels still left in the ground and only about 1.7 trillion barrels are discovered, meaning geologists know about it but it hasn’t been pumped yet. the other 900 trillion barrels is undiscovered oil. There is also something called oil shales, which are found in the western part of the United States (we have 2/3 of the worlds oil shales), that are rock formations that must be heated to 900 degrees Fahrenheit for it to release its oil. Actually, its harder to get oil out of the shales so most oil pursuers stick to pumping it from oil bubbles in the ground. After almost half the oil has already been pumped it gets harder to pump the remaining half, so soon the site is abandoned, leaving possibly millions of barrels. Experts have predicted that production of oil will peak in 2015-2030, after it will decline. OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) controls most of the worlds oil and its prices around the world, so when none OPEC countries run out of oil, the U.S. is going to have to pay whatever they demand because oil provides 40% of the worlds energy. We, the United States of America, only fill a flimsy 4% of the worlds population, but we use about 25% of oil supplies.
This picture shows the oil peak and future use of oil. The site http://www.theoildrum.com/?gclid=CL_WsP7y94kCFQeHgQodlhL3PQ is a good site to explore and learn more about oil and alternatives. All the facts in this essay are from Current Science’s article Crude Awakening.
