Petroleum

By Duncan Hayes and Greg Oberschelp

Introduction

• Petroleum products are used in transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, and almost every other area of the economy

• Upside: interconnectedness, industrialization, makes the modern world possible

• Downside: massive environmental damage, finite resource, reliance on foreign sources

Questions

• How did society become so reliant on petroleum, and how can we fix that?

• How much is left?• What are the environmental effects?

Brief History

• First oil well in US: Edwin Drake in Titusville, Pennsylvania August 27, 1859

• Used modified version of Chinese percussion drilling

• Drake was looking for sources of kerosene• John D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil in

1870

Brief History (cont’d)

• Demand for kerosene eliminated by Thomas Edison’s invention of light bulb in 1878

• Rockefeller’s Standard Oil controlled 90% of refining market, industry stagnated

• Henry Ford popularized cars in early 20th century, leading to demand for petroleum in the form of gasoline

• Gasoline went from useless kerosene byproduct to useful fuel

Brief History (cont’d)

• Standard Oil broken up with anti-trust laws in 1911

• World War I: game changer for petroleum• Widespread adoption of ships, tanks, planes

with internal combustion engines• British armed forces: under 1,000 vehicles at

start of war, over 90,000 by the end• Petroleum becomes a strategic resource

Brief History (cont’d)

• After the war, American oil companies began exploring around the world, including the Middle East and Saudi Arabia in particular

• US still dominated production with over 65% of the market until 1940s

• New petroleum-based products: invention of Nylon in 1935-first fully synthetic fiber

Brief History (cont’d)

• World War II: proved importance of access to petroleum

• One of the major reasons Japan attacked Pearl Harbor was Roosevelt’s decision to cut off petroleum shipments

• Allied forces had better access to petroleum, allowed them to out produce Axis over time

Brief History (cont’d)

• First hint of problems with petroleum: 1973 oil embargo

• West was heavily dependent on Mid East oil, price quadrupled during crisis

• Another supply shock in 1979 after Iranian Revolution

• Price spike encouraged move toward alternatives, but price collapsed in 1980s

Technological Aspects

• Petroleum is a finite, non-renewable resource• Peak Oil: idea that total production has some

hard maximum limit, will hit the limit then decrease

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/US_Crude_Oil_Production_versus_Hubbert_Curve.png

Technological Aspects (cont’d)

• Unconventional sources of oil have disrupted the peak oil theory somewhat

http://ceoworld.biz/ceo/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/US-oil-output.jpg

Technological Aspects (cont’d)

• Global Proven Reserves: about 1.3 trillion barrels from conventional sources

• Technically Recoverable: over 2 trillion barrels from unconventional sources (fracking, oil sands, etc.)

• Price has a huge impact on what is considered reserves/resources

Technological Aspects (cont’d)

• 72% of petroleum in US goes directly to gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel

• Efficiency: average automobile: 15-25%, diesel engine up to 40-50%, jet engines 20-40%

• When considering efficiency of production as well, total efficiency is quite low

Social Aspects

• “End our reliance on foreign oil” –Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama

• As of 2009, about 66% of petroleum was from foreign sources

• Due to fracking and other technological advances, it is possible that the US can eliminate a significant amount of its oil imports over the next couple decades

Social Aspects (cont’d)

• Petroleum industry has a lot of political influence

• Industry receives about $4 billion a year in various subsidies and tax breaks

• This must change if we want to decrease use of petroleum

Concept Map