Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
4000
oil crises
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
Great
Depression
1000
500
0
1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Figure 1.2 Oil production since 1860 (Quaschning, 2007).
The drastic rise in oil prices set back world economic growth and energy use by
about four years. The industrialized nations, which had become used to low oil
prices, reacted with shock. Schemes such as car-free Sundays and programmes
promoting the use of renewable energies were the result. Differences between the
individual OPEC states in turn led to a rise in production quotas and a steep drop
in price at the end of the 1980s. This also sharply reduced the commitment of the
industrialized nations to use renewable energies.
From Alsatian Herring Barrels to Oil Barrels
Commercial oil production in Europe began in Pechelbronn in Alsace (now
France) in 1735. Cleaned herring casks were used to store the oil, because
in those days salted herring was traded in large quantities in barrels and so these barrels
were comparatively cheap. As oil production increased, special barrels of the same size
were produced exclusively for oil. The bottom of the barrels was painted blue to prevent
any confusion with barrels used for food products. When commercial oil production
began in the USA, the companies copied the techniques used in the Alsace region. This
also included the standard size of herring barrels. Since then the herring barrel volume
has remained the international measuring unit for oil. The abbreviation of barrel is bbl,
which stands for 'blue barrel' and means a barrel with a blue base.
1
(
) =
(
) =
(
)
petroleum barrel US
1
bbl US
158 987
.
l
litres
The dramatic collapse in the price of crude oil from almost US$40 a barrel to US$10
created economic problems for some of the production countries and also made it
unattractive to develop new oil sources. In 1998 unity was largely restored again
among the OPEC states. They agreed on lower production quotas in order to halt
any further drop in prices. In fact, prices rose even higher than originally intended.
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