Oil Drilling, A Comprehensive Look at the Long and Short Term Effects of Oil Drilling Around the World

Abstract

Oil drilling is a way to extract natural resources out of the earth; it has been an ongoing practice for more than fifty years. The process can cause harm to the Earth in substantial ways. However, interests tend to focus on the right of passage to oil, which we use for energy. Since 1950, 2.6 million oil and natural gas wells have been drilled. The United States benefits most from the amounts of oil that is extracted and is also responsible for the majority of the world’s drilling [1]. There are three types of oil rigs used to extract oil. The jack-up unit is used in areas of shallow water. A barge is used during the beginning stages, then towed into place. The legs of the machine are extended to the sea floor and then the barge lifts out of the water, becoming a stable drilling platform. In shaggier seas or water a counterweight is used. A semi-submersible drilling rig is a platform accompanying to underwater pontoons. When the pontoons are flooded with water they are lower into the ocean, preventing waves from affecting the platform nearly as much. In the most extreme deep-water situations heavyweight-drilling options are used. Drill ships are then used while being held into place by large anchors or by dynamic positioning systems, which use computer-controlled propellers to help the ship stay in place. In 2009, there were a combined total of 824,847 producing oil and gas wells in the United States. America ranks number 1 in natural gas production, and number 3 in oil production [2]. The production of oil is causing health problems within the global community. Oil drilling causes the overuse of time and money. The Obama administration is requiring much more specific environmental reviews for deep-water drilling and it upset not only the oil industry but it upset the environmentalist too. Since oil isn’t a renewable energy source that means that if we continue to use oil then we will have to continue to damage our land for more. When dealing with oil wells there are the consequences of oil spills. There have been approximately fifteen oil spills and a minimum of 80,000 tons were released during the spills.