A Study On Peak Oil Essay

Currently Saudi Arabia is one of the leading producers of oil in the world. However, it is losing its foothold on the market. Many countries, like North America, are increasing their oil production and are looking for ways to become less dependent on foreign oil. The increased competition has caused oil prices to decrease. By producing their own oil, countries not only will increase their revenues, but will also reduce their need to rely on foreign oil. By reducing their need foreign an oil a country does not have to worry that their oil supply will be cut off if they go to war.

One of the main subjects this documentary talks about is the "peak oil" phenomenon. According to many geoscientists, geologists and other members of the scientific community, oil production is supposed to peak. After this peak, we should start to see production drop as the oil becomes harder to extract and refine. Some think that we have already peaked, others think that production is currently peaking. Recently, there have also been some people in the financial industry who are saying that the peak oil

It has been argued that Conventional oil production has reached its peak and is now on a terminal, global decline however, it must be noted that oil is not finishing anytime soon but certain forms of it are being experimented in terms of chemicals, geography, geological and economically. Others allege the era of oil is coming to an end. But certainly not

The two main points in Cavaney’s argument for global oil production peaking while still in high demand being a myth are, primarily, that there are still plenty of reserves and that technological advances will extend those reserves further and, secondarily, that society will advance beyond the need before the resource will run out. Cavaney points toward policies, such as price controls and synthetic fuel subsidies, put into place in the 1970s to avoid disaster from oil production losses as pricey government mistakes. The alarm was sounded, yet production continued. Funds were spent inefficiently. Replacements will develop over time and advances will keep the current supply flowing.

The global spread of oil drilling is connected to the reasons why oil was first exploited in the first place; it was plentiful, it had the highest energy density per weight, it was not already being exploited. Chief to the purpose of this paper on oil drilling lies in the words was and had. The fact that those words are in the past, and the idea that things superior to oil have come along, is something that needs to be brought up more often. The fact is that oil, as a resource, is simply out of date. The addiction that humanity has to ‘black gold’ is unprecedented in the history of mankind, and the reasons why this addiction is more dangerous than any standard addiction are numerous.

The oil age has become an age of inequality. The discovery of oil has brought the wealth of a few people, and has brought misery to most people. Many oil rich countries suffer from the distortion of the economic development, the financial instability, the increasing gap between the rich and the poor, the serious

The theory of ‘peak oil’ represents the inevitable peaking and consequent decrease in the amount of oil produced in nations. The phrase ‘peak oil’ means the time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached after which a terminal decline in the rate of production occurs. Hubbert invented and first used the models behind peak oil to predict that United States oil production would peak between year 1965 and 1970. The Hubbert model and its variants have described with reasonable accuracy the peak and decline of production from oil wells, fields, regions, and countries, and have also proved useful in other limited-resource production-domains.

Since the Industrial Revolution in the United States and around the world, crude oil has been a hot commodity – and unfortunately, a commodity that is non-renewable. An aspect of globalization has been the increase in the oil industry; with so many buyers for oil – gasoline companies for vehicles and machinery, especially – countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, and other countries have become economic stars in the global economy. Up until recently, Africa had had few major producers of this precious liquid, until the twentieth century, specifically in Nigeria. In the small delta region of Nigeria exist over 40 ethnic groups with 250 distinct dialects, specific traditional religious and cultural practices, and, being first contacted by the Portuguese in the late 1400’s, a long history of western contact (Lagassé 2000). The modern, overarching name for these groups is “Ijaw”, transmuted and then anglicized from “Izon”(also called “Ijon”, “Ijo”, or “Ujo”), meaning “truth” in their language (Ijaw Dictionary Project). They have existed harmoniously and prosperously in the delta region of Nigeria, practicing a vivacious lifestyle for centuries. However, since the 1950’s, when a wealth of natural oil was discovered in that region, these groups have been battling to preserve their health, culture, and peace in the face of a brutal globalization campaign led by oil companies and banking enterprises alike.

James Buchan, renowned journalist and political pundit, stated in a 2006 edition of the New Statesman, “A century ago, petroleum - what we call oil - was just an obscure commodity; today it is almost as vital to human existence as water.” Had Mr. Buchan been writing this article today, it is likely that he would argue oil is more vital to human existence than water. There is no denying the human dependence on oil, relying on it to provide us light and heat, power our machines, and transport us throughout the globe. Almost forty years ago much of the western discourse on oil was dedicated to forecasting the future of oil, making predictions on where it would come from, who would control it, and how much it would cost.

The shale gas revolution calls into question the peak oil hypothesis, which predicts that the price of finite resource will increase dramatically in the future once oil production reaches a peak. The peak oil hypothesis assumes that on the supply side once fifty percent of total world reserves of petrochemicals are extracted production will peak and then go into rapid and permanent decline. Rising oil prices may stimulate drilling in marginal areas but because ninety percent of the worlds reserves have already been discovered this will do little to increase the ultimately recoverable reserves (URR) of oil. This pessimistic prediction for future oil production is combined with a very optimistic prediction for the future of energy consumption. The geologists are also skeptical of the potential of unconventional gas and oil reserves to replace conventional oil. The economic argument for peak oil has its origins in Jevons’ ‘Coal Question’ (1865) and Hotelling’s ‘The

1. Crude oil, also known as Petroleum, is a liquid that is found and pumped from the rock formations in the ground. Crude Oil is in the not refined form, and refined into gasoline, heating oil, diesel, kerosene and various products. It is usually found in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, America, and in Russia.

Oil companies operate in defined regions where oil exploration and possible drilling is done. However some companies such as Shell BP engage in international drilling and distribution of oil products. Below are some of the most renowned oil companies in their constituent continents: Africa: Sasol of South of South Africa and National Petroleum Company of Congo. In Asia some of the leading oil companies include Nobel Group and the Bahrain Oil Company. It is important to note that Asia has a lot of oil resources and hence have extensive oil drilling activities. In Europe we have Partex oil and Gas Company, in South America three is Bridas Corporation based in Argentina. North America has one of the most advanced technology in the oil industry. These companies have extended their activities around the globe in a bid to discover more oil resources to sustain future energy requirements. Some North America companies include Shell Oil Company and the Apache Corporation. This paper will focus on the importance of oil companies over and above the problems that they pose to the environment as well as the political stability of the world. For practical examples I chose to use the state of Alaska where oil companies have based their operations as a case study.

World oil demand is increasing as emerging economies need more energy to increase their living standards. Estimates, shown below, are that by 2030, China and India as emerging markets will import over 70% to 90% of their fossil fuel needs (1) . Coupled to a continued high and growing demand for oil, makes this a robust market for the next 30 years.

Within the last two years, the oil industry has increased the price of oil causing gas prices to rise to $3.00 a gallon today. It was only a few years ago that the price of gas was $1.00 a gallon. There have been many complaints against the oil industry on price gauging and monopolizing the industry. Oil companies are reaching sales up to $100 billion and they are seeing profits in the $10 million range. These are the facts that we receive from the media and the government to portray a negative image on the oil industry. The oil industry does not seem to be getting their fair shake and peoples perception from the media and government reaction have clouded the statements

Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. The concept is based on the observed production rates of individual oil wells, and the combined production rate of a field of related oil wells. The aggregate production rate from an oil field over time usually grows exponentially until the rate peaks and then declines—sometimes rapidly—until the field is depleted. This concept is derived from the Hubbert curve, and has been shown to be applicable to the sum of a