Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 13-7
Natural capital:
locations of the major known
deposits of oil, natural gas,
and coal in North America and
offshore areas where more
crude oil and natural gas might
be found. Geologists do not
expect to find very much new
oil and natural gas in North
America. Offshore drilling for
oil accounts for about one-
fourth of U.S. oil production.
Nine of every 10 barrels of
this oil comes from the Gulf
of Mexico, where there are
4,000 oil drilling platforms and
53,000 kilometers (33,000
miles) of underwater pipeline
(see insert). (Data from Council
on Environmental Quality and
U.S. Geological Survey)
Arctic Ocean
Beaufort
Sea
Coal
Gas
Oil
High potential areas
Prudhoe
Bay
Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge
Trans Alaska
oil pipeline
ALASKA
Prince
Willliam
Sound
Gulf of
Alaska
CANADA
Grand
Banks
UNITED STATES
Pacific
Ocean
Atlantic
Ocean
LOUISIANA
MISSISSIPPI
ALABAMA
GEORGIA
Gulf of
Mexico
MEXICO
TEXAS
FLORIDA
GULF OF MEXICO
to decline. At some point, prices will begin a steady rise
as consumers begin competing for the world's dwin-
dling oil reserves.
According to geologists, known and projected
global reserves of oil are expected to be 80% depleted
within 42-93 years and U.S. reserves in
10-48 years,
de-
pending on how rapidly we use oil. If these estimates
are correct, oil should be reaching its sunset years
sometime during this century. (See Science Supple-
ment 8 at the end of this topic for a brief history of the
Age of Oil.)
Oil geologist Colin J. Campbell warns that esti-
mates of remaining oil may be too high because oil-
producing countries often inflate their estimated oil re-
serves so that they can borrow money from the World
Bank using their supposed oil supplies as collateral.
Although Saudi Arabia vigorously denies it, some ge-
ologists believe that the country's estimated oil re-
serves are not as high as its leaders say.
Basically, we have three options: look for more oil,
use or waste less oil, or use something else. Some ana-
lysts—mostly economists—contend that rising oil
prices (when oil consumption exceeds oil production)
will stimulate exploration and lead to enough new re-
serves to meet future demand through the next cen-
Active drilling sites
70
60
Oil
50
40
30
20
(1997 dollars)
10
0
Year
Figure 13-8
Economics:
inflation-adjusted price of oil in the
United States, 1950-2005. When adjusted for inflation, oil costs
about the same as it did in 1975. (Data from U.S. Department of
Energy and Department of Commerce)
