People have know about crude oil for many many years, some think for as long as 5000 years. The earliest source of petroleum was surface pools known as oil seeps. From these sources, oil would bubble up from deep below the ground. The La Brea tar pits in LA in USA are the most famous oil seeps, which you can still visit today and scientists have even found the remains of plants and animals such as the mammoth in these tar pits.
The ancient Egyptians used crude oil for many different things, such as a way to preserve the dead mummies and to dress wounds, to get rid of aches and pains in the body. In the ancient worlds, they used oil to create weapons of war. Persians, living in now Iran shot arrows wrapped in oil-soaked rags, which they would set alight and then launch into their enemies.
By 1300s people were using crude oil to make new materials, this was done by heating the petroleum until in boiled, distilling it. Then they would allow it to cool, they would use this for medicines amongst other things.
The real beginning of the oil age was around 1760 and 1850, during which was the Industrial Revolution, which brought big changes to Great Britain and USA. New technology changes the way people lived and worked. work that was once done by hand was now being replaced with machines. All these changes created anew demand for oil, at this time people were using oil lamps at night, this was expensive and hard to get mind. In 1850 a Canadian Doctor, Abraham Gesner discovered a way of making new fuel, he made this by distilling crude oil, he named it Kerosene, which was a cheap and useful fuel for lamps.
The demand for oil grew bigger and bigger due to this discovery and everyone wanted these new oil lamps. by 1870s all over the world kerosene was being used for street lamps and lamps in the home. By the end of the 1800s oil fields had been discovered in Europe, USA and East Asia.
How oil is formed:
Oil is fossil fuel. It is made up of the remains of tiny plants and plankton. The plankton lived in the seas when dinosaurs were roaming the earth. Over millions of years these plants and animals have turned into oil.
Tiny plankton that live in our seas today, are very much like the ones millions of years ago. They use energy from sunlight to make their food. When they are eaten the suns energy passing into the animal. So oil made from the prehistoric plankton is actually stored energy from the sun.
Oil takes millions of years to form.
- Millions of years ago plankton dies and fell to the seabed
- Layers of dead plants and animals built up on the bottom of the ocean
- Mud and sand sank to the bottom of the sea and covered the layers of plankton
- More layers of sediment piled on top of the dead plankton and squashed the bottom layers, which became hotter.
- Over time the muddy sediment became rock
- The plankton rotted, giving off bubbles of gas and turning into a thick liquid - oil
- Oil began seeping up through the rock until it reached solid rock, which it stayed under forming a pool or reservoir.
Uses of oil:
Crude oil is made up of a mixture of different substances that are extracted in industrial plants, called oil refineries. Around 60% of crude oil is refined into petroleum fuels, which are burned in engines for powering anything from cars to chainsaws. Others include Asphalt and petrochemical.
Oil is used to power vehicles. One third of the worlds oil is fuel for transport. Oil burns easily and is a good source of energy. Crude oil is used to make fuels such as patrol and diesel.
Oil keeps parts moving smoothly. Vehicles and machines need oil to keep their parts working. Grease, brake fluid and gear lubricants are all made from crude oil. Using it prevents wear and tear on moving parts and makes machines last longer.
Oil can be used to make electricity. We burn oil in power stations to make electricity. When the oil is burned it releases energy as heat. The heat boils water and makes steam. The steam then turns turbines which generate electricity.
Things made of oil:
Crude oil is used to make;
- plastics
- cloth - strong long lasting materials such as nylon
- disposable nappies
- cosmetics
- paint
- detergents - use to wash clothes
- bitumen - the black sticky stuff that sticks all the stones together on our roads.
The petrochemical ethylene is used to make the plastic polyethylene, PVC and polyester.
Other petrochemicals are made into rubber, dyes, paints, fertilizers, bullet-proof vests and some medicines such as aspirin.
Extraction:
Over the years the demand for oil has increase considerably, as it is in almost everything, and the more demand of cars and transportation increase, so does the need for oil. These means there needed to be a quicker way of getting it.
Geologists search for rocks that might have oil in them. They do this by sending sound waves and electric currents through the ground. From there, they work out where there might be rock with oil in them by studying how fast the waves and currents travel through it. If they are successful, they drill a small test well. A sample of rock called a "core" is brought to the surface and is checked for oil. If there is oil in the sample, the geologist will see tiny droplets of oil clinging to the rock. Once this is confirmed the oil companies will come in.
In coming, oil drilling, a much safer process than those used in the past. In order to reach onshore oil reserves, the oil companies drill deep wells through or along layers of rock. Offshore oil companies drill from platforms or rigs built on platforms built on stilts or floating on the sea surface. The platforms use pipes called risers. High pressure underground forces oil to come out of the rock and up to the surface. If there is not enough pressure, liquid is injected into the reserves or pumps are used to suck it out.
Sustainable?
No. Oil is the very opposite of sustainable. It is a non-renewable natural resource that once burnt, disappears, leaving dwindling oil reserves for future generations.
If we are going to continue using oil beyond the next few decades, then we are going to have to use a lot less and a lot more slowly. This can be achieved by extracting the maximum oil possible from reserves and by reducing the spills. For example by using energy-efficient vehicles such as hybrid cars, public transport, cycling etc.
The Story Behind Oil. Heidi Moore
http://www.amazon.com/Story-Behind-Oil-True-Stories/dp/0431114870
Our World Oil. Kate Bedford
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oil-Our-World-KATE-BEDFORD/dp/0749662786
The Oil Industry. Richard Spilsbury
http://www.amazon.com/The-Oil-Industry-Development-Destruction/dp/1448869919
Coal, Gas and Oil. Sally Morgan
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oil-Gas-Coal-Energy-Debate/dp/0750258535
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