Journal Entry #10

Squeezing More Oil out of the Ground brought to attention how much oil we have in our reserves and the many different techniques that we researches have come up with to drill for more oil. The author predicts that by 2030 we will have used up 1,600 billion barrels of oil in our 4,500-5,000 billion barrel reserves.  Now we must act responsibly and not waste this oil that we have become so dependent on.  The United States consumes more oil than any other country in the world and we are doing everything in our control to keep sucking the earth dry. The problem arises that will the depletion of oil reserves, the prices of barrels increases leading to a huge hole burning in American’s wallet at the pump.

Oil is the bloodstream of world’s economy and has become a magnet for war. The Crude Awakening video showed dramatic footage of oil graveyards in McCamey Texas, Baku, and Venezuela where once there was an abundance supply of oil and now the reserves have been sucked dry. The energy exerted from producing oil is equivalent to 12 men working all day long resulting in the most invaluable resource that we have. 70% of barrel oil is converted into transportation oil, leaving only 30% of the oil to be produced into various other items. The United States was once the biggest oil producer, where oil discovery was peaking in 1930’s and the drilling of oil was peaking in the 1970’s. Now there are 58 oil reserves physically producing less than they have ever produced. Having all the technology in the world may only be beneficial for the time being, since we are depleting oil reserves around the country at a rapid pace. Thankfully though, the middle-east has not peaked in their oil production giving hope that our addiction to oil will not end.