Petroleum industry is a main energy industry. So, petroleum is vital to many industries, and is of importance to the maintenance of industrial civilization in its current configuration, and thus is a critical concern for many nations. Oil accounts for a large percentage of the world’s energy consumption. Oil and gas drive world economies, their prices can alter the economic prospects of entire countries and a single value fluctuation can have a wide-ranging impact on stock markets worldwide. The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline (petrol). Petroleum (oil) is also the raw material for many chemical …show more content…
Since the industry is all about dealing with various hydrocarbon products, “hydrocarbon industry” is another name for the industry. Upstream: This sector deals with the first step of the process: getting oil and gas out of the ground. Companies involved in upstream operations search for underground or underwater oil fields, drill exploratory wells and oversee operations to redirect crude oil to the surface. Crude oil from the field reservoir usually has gas, water, and sediment in it. At the other extreme, gas condensate is colorless and will completely evaporate if left uncontained. The specific characteristics of each crude reflects its unique blend of sizes and types of hydrocarbon molecules, with thousands of different compounds in the mixture. This extreme variability is why the material was named “crude”. It is indeed a crude material, being messy, unstable and dangerous to handle essentially unstable in its initial form. Midstream: The midstream sector involves the transportation (by pipeline, rail, oil tanker or truck), storage, and wholesale marketing of crude or refined petroleum
These refineries are located in three different main locations: Steele City, Nebraska, Wood River and Patoka, Illinois and refineries located on the Gulf Coast of Texas. The pipeline carries three different kinds of oil, which are synthetic crude and diluted bitumen, and also light crude oil. Light crude oil comes from the Bakken formation located in North Dakota and Montana, while the synthetic crude and diluted bitumen come from the oil sands in Canada. There are already three phases of the pipeline in operation and a fourth proposed phase, which has yet to be built. The newest proposed phase has been met with mixed feelings.
In 2004, crude oil producers around the world expected a 1.5% growth in the world’s demand for crude oil. The actual growth rate was more than double the projections at 3.3%. This growth was due to rapidly industrializing of foreign countries such as, China and India. Therefore the lack of crude oil affected the supply of gasoline to consumers at the pump.
The main thing in natural gas is methane. Millions of years ago, decaying remains of
In today’s world humans are consuming massive amounts of fossil fuels. The top five oil consuming countries in the world are the usual suspects. These include the United States, China, Japan, India and Russia. Canada comes in at number 10 with a daily consumption of 2,287 thousand barrels per day. There are three major types of fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas. These resources were formed during the Carboniferous Period 360-286 million years ago. During this time earth was covered in swamps with large amounts of plants and waters filled with algae. When these plants and trees began to die they would form layers of peat. Hundreds and thousands of years would pass adding sand and other materials on top of the peat. This formed the sedimentary rocks we know today. As the thousands of years turned into millions of years the water of the peat layer was pushed out of the peat until the layer of diatoms turned into coal, oil or natural gas (CEC, 2013). Canada has oil industry throughout the country and currently 12 out of 13 provinces are active in the oil industry. Natural gas production is occurring in British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, and New Brunswick. Natural gas could also become large industry in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland & Labrador, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Oil production is currently taking place in the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland & Labrador (CAPP, 2013).
Oil provided new fuel for transportation and manufacturing, even railroads were able to convert to oil. Oil helped manufacturing plants and farms move to a cheaper source of energy. Another significant factor of oil is that it helped encourage automobile production as well as roads. The production of the Interstate highway led to the movement of people and goods (Champagne, Harpham 13). Rapid industrialization of the Gulf Coast region sparked. By 1929 in Harris County, 27 percent of all manufacturing employees worked in refineries. By 1940 the capacity of the refineries had increased fourfold. The oil and gas industries carried a boom-and-bust mentality (Oliena 1). The economy flourish at times and failed other times, because the prices would rise and fall. When new oil was discovered in a particular place it brought about more people, overcrowding the schools and new housing. Yet a couple years later the town could experience a bust creating poverty and making the town a ghost town. The oil and gas industry transformed the government and its role with the economy. The Texas Railroad Commission was extended to regulate energy and to promote well-spacing rules. Higher education benefitted through the oil and gas industry ( Munch, Francis, and Rundell 604). In 1923 oil was discovered in the West Texas Permian Basin on university land. The Permanent University Fund was split up between the
First up, of course, has to be the big one. Out of 254 counties in the state, 232 produce some quantity of oil. How did the petroleum industry get started in Texas? People actually knew about petroleum deposits in Texas long before they could figure out a good use for the stuff. Indians knew of seeps in the ground where petroleum oozed up long before Europeans found their way to the Americas. Those Europeans didn't know what to do with it either at first. Hernando de Soto's crew used the stuff to caulk their boats to make them watertight. The first Texas oil well was drilled in Nacogdoches County in 1866, and other small wells followed. The first major oil well in Texas was drilled in Corsicana in 1894, and the BIG one, Spindletop, blew out in grand style on January 10, 1901. But the demand for the oil took a while to catch up to production. After Spindletop, the country started seriously moving towards a petroleum-based economy.
The Bakken formation is a rock unit from the Devonian age under parts of Montana, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The Bakken formation has been producing oil since 1953. This is the first time a North Dakota well was drilled in the Bakken and at this time, the size was underestimated.
Economist has analyzed the causes of decline in world oil prices. Typically, the price of oil is determined by demand and supply of the world market and forecast advance to invest in which level of demand depends on the level of economic activity and behavioral use of energy from humans. The oil price decline has a benefit for oil importers like China, India, Japan, Europe but unfortunately for oil exporters such as: Kuwait, Venezuela, Nigeria, and Iraq. Crude oil prices fell steadily in the past seems to be a result of two main factors being the levels of demand declining and a level of increased supplies (Economic, 2015)
The oil & gas industry is among the largest industries in the world. The sector generates large revenues and employs a large number of people in order to meet the worldwide demand for energy.
finding new ways to drill for oil and also refine it more efficiently to ensure that
Oil is an essential resource in the whole world. People use oil in a variety of ways. The world has used oil for many years and it will still use it as a basic commodity. Oil use can be traced back to 1850s. However, when Edwin Drake produced commercially usable quantities of crude oil from a 69-foot well in Pennsylvania in 1859, he marked a new period that considered oil as a valuable commodity. Oil prices have been inconsistent since 1859. The discoveries of more wells considerably lowered oil prices and made some oil barons abandon the industry. However, oil prices have increased over time because of several factors.
Petroleum engineering is the development and exploitation of crude/oil and natural gas. The foundation was established during the 1890s in California. This career was developed to correlate oil- producing zones and water zones from well to prevent large amounts of water from entering oil- produced zones.
» Downstream: significant refineries incorporate unrefined petroleum preparing and transport of items to retail outlets.
The worst imaginable environmental catastrophe that could occur in Maryland has just become a reality. The lifeblood of Southern Maryland's Watermen has been forever affected. The ecosystems of the Patuxtent River and Chesapeake Bay have been irreversibly contaminated. The Three Mile Island and Chernobyl Nuclear Accidents have affected the world ecosystems; but the Chalk Point oil spill has reached us here in Southern Maryland. The ethical considerations with generating electricity from fossil fuels, specifically oil, has a profound impact on us all. We all use electricity to make our lives easier and more productive. By using this electricity have we given our permission for the oil companies free reign in order to provide us with the service we demand?? Are we just as responsible for the oil spill as the corporate leaders who run the companies? As citizens we are in a position to develop and enforce regulations to protect ourselves. Do we also protect the environment; or is the environment just something for us to use? These and many other moral dilemmas exist for modern man.
oil companies began to search for oil in countries overseas. Many began to see luck in the Middle East, Egypt, the North and Caspian Seas, West Africa, Western Canada, and South America. With the shift overseas, the pipeline industry began to construct major systems from the U.S. Gulf Coast and Western Canada to states in the Midwest, as well as from California to other West Coast states.