2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 18:37
Like other fossil fuels, oil is a lady of very advanced age. The very first deposits of earthen oil, according to scientists, arose 600 million years ago. Then the oceans were much larger, and some modern islands were hidden under water, including the territories of countries where oil is produced today.
Where did the oil come from?
The oceans once teemed with the life of many plants and animals, the remains of which sank to the bottom for hundreds of millions of years. Together with the layers of the earth, they created deposits, which became more and more. Under the influence of enormous pressure, a constant process of metamorphosis of organic residues into oil droplets took place. The pressure was so powerful that in some places, especially with the porous structure of the upper layers of the soil, these drops broke out and gradually created oil deposits. Through layers of sand and lime, oil broke out, but on its waylayers of stones often appeared, it fell into traps in which all cavities and depressions were filled with liquid. Now the extraction of black gold in the world consists in trying to drill wells to penetrate these huge filled cavities.
How do oil fields work?
Great oil fields, such as those in the Middle East, lie under large stone domes where oil accumulates. Deposits on the European continent are huge s alt domes that push powerful stone slabs up, as a result, oil fills the formed cavities.
Oil consumption
The world as we know it would be very different if there was no oil. It is even hard to imagine how many everyday things are created from it. Synthetic fibers that make up clothing, all plastic used in everyday life and industry, medicines, cosmetics - all this is created from oil.
Almost half of the energy consumed by mankind is produced from earth oil. It is consumed by aircraft engines, as well as almost all vehicles in the world. Oil is also burned to generate electricity. The generated electricity drives industrial machines and is the basis of daily life in the industrial world.
Black gold deposits
The Middle East, primarily the Arab countries and Iran, satisfies almost half of the world's oil demand. There are also large oil fields in Russia, the USA, African countries, for example, in Nigeria, as well as inNorth America. Huge deposits have been found in other places, but their development requires large financial costs and is accompanied by technical difficulties.
Oil production in the world began in the US. The first oil source was discovered in the USA in 1859. Oil bubbled up from a depth of 21 meters. The method of drilling at that time was extremely simple: a heavy chisel was suspended in a wooden drilling tower, which continuously crashed into the ground with noise and broke stones. The first offshore oil rig was built in 1900 on the coast of California.
New volumes of oil production in the world can hide under deserts or swamps, under the bottom of the seas or blocks of Antarctic ice, behind the terrain it is difficult to recognize what is deep below, in the bowels of the earth. Therefore, the search for new oil fields is extremely difficult and requires huge financial costs.
Reserve and production of black gold
Oil production in the world is not an endless process. Based on available estimates, at the current level of production, its world geological reserves will last at least 46 years, including in Saudi Arabia - for 72 years, Iran - 88, Iraq - 128, Venezuela - 234, Libya - 77, Kuwait - 111, UAE - 94, Russia - 21, China - 10, USA - 11.
Oil production in the world (the table clearly shows this) is characterized by the TOP-10 champion countries.
Countries | Oil production, billion barrels a year | ||
SaudiArabia | 4, 22 | ||
Russia | 3, 94 | ||
USA | 3, 65 | ||
China | 1, 53 | ||
Canada | 1, 41 | ||
Iran | 1, 31 | ||
UAE | 1, 17 | ||
Iraq | 1, 09 | ||
Mexico | 1, 07 | ||
Kuwait | 1, 02 |
Oil production around the world at different times was very different. Consider the history of countries that got rich on black gold.
Saudi Arabia
The leader is Saudi Arabia, its oil production in the world, the table confirms this, has made it an extremely we althy state. Until 1938, the young kingdom called Saudi Arabia was one of the poorest countries in the world. In 1938, huge sources of oil were discovered in Saudi Arabia. The Second World War prevented their development and work began only in 1946, and by 1949 the country's oil industry had reached a high level. Oil became the main source of we alth and prosperity of the kingdom. Oil exports enriched the kingdom by $310 billion in 2008. The entire Saudi industry is based on the oil industry. The proven oil reserves in this country today are about 260 billion barrels, which is equal to 24% of the proven reserves on Earth. This number of discovered oil fields is steadily growing. Currently, Saudi Arabia is considered to be the richest country in the world.
Iran
The Islamic Republic of Iran is the second largest producer of black gold in the world. Iran is a state that lives off the export of oil. Thanks to new discoveries of deposits, the country further strengthens the status of an oil giant. Most recently, a giant oil reserve with reserves of 15 billion barrels was discovered in Iran.
Kuwait
Third place is occupied by Kuwait. Thanks to oil production, the state became rich: in the 70-80s, exports made the country the richest in the world. But in the 90s, the difficult political situation caused import deliveries to fail. The Iraqi invasion almost ruined the country, destroyed the former we alth. But in recent years, the state is rapidly returning to its former level. At present, substantial oil deposits have been found near Kuwait, about 102 billion barrels, which is 9% of all world reserves. The main share, about 95% of export revenues are oil and oil products.
Look into the future
In our time, oil reigns everywhere. No other form can yet replace it as a source of energy. The annual oil production in the world is about 4.4 billion tons. They foretell that at the current level of consumption, its reserves will be enough (from known deposits) until 2025. If the volume of oil production in the world is reduced and new sources are discovered, earthen oil in the depths of the earth can be stretched for 150-1000 years. This is too small on a planetary scale. Nature needs 200 million years to create this mineral, and the current generationsquanders it in a millionth time, that is, behaves as if after it human civilization will disappear.
Sooner or later, humanity must change the way of life, dispose of oil sources wisely or look for other alternative energy sources. According to many experts, the picture of the future is as follows: the oil reserves will be used mainly for raw materials of the chemical industry for the production of plastics, medicines and other high-quality products. Vehicles, cars, trucks or planes will be powered by hydrogen. Electricity and heat energy will be produced from alternative renewable sources such as wind, sun and water. It remains only to protect what we have and wait for the future.
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