19.3 Oil

Dor i s V.Ne ’Shonda D .

19.3 OIL

Petroleum is taken from organic molecules created by living organisms millions of years ago and buried under sediments where high pressure and temperatures transformed them into energy-rich compounds

Petroleum deposits can be ,mixtures of oil, gas, and a solid tar-like material.

Oil and gas are often found under layers of shale and other sediments, mainly where folds and deformations create pockets that trap hydrocarbons

Ultra deep wells have been drilled in the ocean under 10,000ft of water and on land 40,000ft below the surface

Directional drilling 3.75mi horizontally away from the original target, can create up to 50 wells with different directions and depths

ANWR(Artic National Wildlife Refuge) in Alaska claims that this will only impact 2% of the land surface during drilling

We only recover 30-40% of the oil in an area, because extraction reaches a point where it’s uneconomical to continue

OIL

There’s about 4 trillion barrels worth of oil in the world, half is recoverable

465 billion barrels have already been consumed, as of 2006 28.5 billion barrels are consumed each year, at this rate there’s only enough to last about 40 years.

Saudi Arabia claims 262.7 billion barrels, almos ¼ of the total preserve.

10 countries hold 84% of all known recoverable oil

RESOURCES AREN’T EVENLY DISTRIBUTED

Advantages: Relatively easy to attain Cheap generates electricity

Disadvantages: Produce CO₂ emissions which contribute to global warming oil spills can occur, wildlife is harmed $250 billion are paid directly to oil producing countries

each year Oil Spills

OIL’S IMPACTS

Conventional steam - Oil is burned to heat water to create steam to generate electricity.

Combustion turbine - Oil is burned under pressure to produce hot exhaust gases which spin a turbine to generate electricity.

Combined-cycle technology - Oil is first combusted in a combustion turbine, using the heated exhaust gases to generate electricity. After these exhaust gases are recovered, they heat water in a boiler, creating steam to drive a second turbine

HOW OIL PRODUCES ELECTRICITY

Home to an abundant amount of wildlife (e.g. caribou, waterfowl, polar bears, arctic wolves, etc)

Might be the site of the last big, onshore liquid petroleum field in North America

Estimated to contain 12 billion barrels of oil & several trillion cubic feet of gas

Conservationist say that oil drilling would harm the area

Oil company engineers claim that careless ways are no longer permitted in their operations

ALASKA’S ARCTIC WILDLIFE REFUGE

ALASKA’S ARCTIC WILDLIFE REFUGE

Composed of sand & shale particles coated with bitumen, a viscous mixture of long chain hydrocarbons

Pros: cheap to extract, abundant source in CanadaCons: typical plant produces 15 million m³ of toxic

sludge, 500 tons of greenhouse gases, contaminates water, destroy boreal forests

TAR SANDS

Not oil or shale, but finely grained sedimentary rock rich in solid organic material called kerogen

When heated to 480°C (900°F) the kerogen liquefies and can be extracted

Pros: might yield the equivalent of several trillion barrels of oil

Cons: produces lots of waste, it’s expensive, high potential for air and water pollution

OIL SHALE

Coile, Zachary. 28 Aug 2005. “The Last Refuge.” Mindfully.org. 1 Feb 2012. http://www.mindfully.org/Energy/2005/Arctic-National-Wildlife-Refuge28aug05.htm

Klappenbach, Laura. 21 Dec 2005. “Senate Votes Against Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drill ing .” About.com. 1 Feb 2012. http://animals.about.com/b/2005/12/21/senate-votes-against-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-drill ing.htm

U.S. Energy Information Administration. 2010. “Oil (Petroleum).” Energy Kids . 1 Feb 2012. http://www.eia.gov/kids/contact.cfm#site_author.

WORKS CITED