And oil came to our homes...
2003/06/01 Orobengoa, Olatz - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria
In 1859, in Pennsylvania, United States, the first drilling was performed for oil extraction. The author was Edwin Drake. At that time, the main fuel for warmers and lamps was the fat of whales, but whale catches began to drop as fuel demand increased. Whales could not meet the need for fuel in Europe and the United States.
Discovering that kerosene could be obtained from oil, they discovered that it was a good substitute for whale fat. Moreover, it seemed that, unlike whales, oil was an endless raw material. Many started searching for new oil fields and found it: In Texas, in Pennsylvania, in then-Russia, in eastern Europe...
Because the number of US oil extractions was higher than domestic consumption, several oil companies began to export to Europe. One of the most powerful was Standard Oil, John D. The company was founded by Rockefeller. In addition to oil extraction, they were also responsible for transportation.
For the transport were initially used recycled tanks that were transported in cars, trains or ships. However, they soon realized that it was not the most appropriate, and began to design specific means of transport for oil, deposits, pipelines and oil.
As already mentioned, in those times oil was used to obtain kerosene, but in the XX years. At the beginning of the century an invention arose that would change history: the car. Seeing that the most suitable fuels for the car's engine were petroleum derivatives, they were then used as fuel for all engines.
The success of the car and, above all, the engine that moved the car was enormous. The British army, in view of the advantages of this engine, began to reform its war machines. Then the armies of other countries did the same.
Soon more oil derivatives begin to appear. Evidently, the new uses of oil only increased the demand for oil. Next to that, of course, they continued looking for new deposits. They also found oil in the colonies of many European states, while US companies began to reach agreements with countries with oil fields, such as the Persia of then or the South American states.
Society under oil
XX. By the mid-20th century the dependence of oil on developed countries was total. By then, the largest oil fields in the Middle East, Siberia, South America, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caspian Sea had already been discovered. And with the control of the exploitation and transport of these deposits, huge amounts of money and increased oil hunger began to be generated.
At this point in history, the United States is also a special case. In fact, although since the first deposit was excavated until the 1950s it was a clear exporter of oil, thereafter it became the world's leading importer of oil. U.S. companies retained their domestic production and continued to stick to the niches of other countries.
As the need for oil increased, transportation became particularly important. The cheapest and most used mode of transport became the ship, as a large amount of oil was transportable quickly and with few resources. Geography forced pipelines from oil deposits to seaports in many places.
Oil extraction, transport and consumption began to create a huge network throughout the world, and oil became its current political power. The clearest example is the 1973 oil crisis.
LPEE, oil is power
In the early 1960s, several oil-exporting countries formed the association called LPEE (Association of Petroleum Exporters). Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iran and Kuwait were the first countries to be formed. Immediately after the formation of the association other countries of the Middle East and South America were incorporated.
One of the main objectives of the Association was to respond jointly to the pressures exerted by the most powerful oil company in the United States, Standard Oil New Jersey, to reduce the price of oil. In fact, between 1970 and 1973 the United States doubled its import of oil and for the first time exceeded world demand for oil. Bear in mind that OPEC then controlled 54% of the oil extracted in the world.
In early 1973 OPEC increased the price of oil by 70%. At that time there were many conflicts in the Middle East and to pressure the Western states oil quotas were established for export. The price of the oil barrel almost tripled by the end of the year.
This crisis, in addition to highlighting the importance of oil, had other consequences: U.S. and European companies sought alternative sources of oil to reduce OPEC control over oil.
Therefore, new search techniques for new deposits were created and developed, which were the benefits of this. In Alaska, North Sea, West Coast of Africa, etc. new oil deposits were found. At the same time, new transport routes were opened, the struggles for the construction of new pipelines and the control of these new deposits and the deposits previously known intensified.
Oil transport: where
At present, the countries of the Middle East remain the ones that export the most oil in the world. 32% of world oil comes from it. Therefore, oil transport routes from this region to around the world are very important. Most of the oil coming out of the Middle East is transported by sea and the rest by pipelines.
Oil spreads by sea to Japan, the United States and Europe. To Japan from the Strait of Malaga, to the United States and Europe by the Suez Canal or the Strait of Ormuz, from the Cape of Good Hope (see map 40-41).
It is essential that oil is as cheap as possible and transport has a great importance in price. Due to the distance between oil reserves and consumers, transportation must be as economical as possible to make it profitable, with the aim of making transportation as economical as possible and as fast as possible. But it is not easy and there are many factors to consider. However, shipping is the cheapest mode of transport today. 62% of world oil is transported by sea and the remaining 38% by land, pipeline, rail or truck.
The areas with the highest oil traffic are the ones that generate the most problems, both politically, economically and environmentally, and geographical barriers only aggravate the problems. On the coasts, for example, the accumulation of traffic causes the pace of transport to decrease considerably. This creates economic problems. In addition, accidents are more likely with the serious environmental problems involved.
However, for oil companies the biggest headaches are the political problems of these areas. In 2002, for example, an oil tanker from the Malaysian Petronas company, which links the Red Sea to the Arab Arab, was attacked by al-Qaeda in the Bab el-Mandab Strait. Since then, the security measures adopted on the coast are much broader.
There are other problems in the Bosphorus Strait of Turkey. This strait combines the Black Sea with the Mediterranean, from where the oil that leaves near the Black Sea is transported, and from where much of the oil that leaves in the countries of the Caspian Sea is channeled.
Every day three million barrels of oil are transported by this narrowing and each year they pass 5,500 oil tankers (in addition to another 50,000 that transport other products). Considering that the narrowest point of the coast has a width of 700 m, it is clear that at this point shipping is becoming a fairly serious problem.
The Turkish government is trying to regulate the traffic of this strait and aims to limit the number of daily ships and their size. However, much of the oil extracted in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea is derived from this, and in recent times, as demand, production has increased considerably.
The solution to the problem is not easy. It seems essential to find alternative roads to the strait, with pipeline transport, railways or trucks. But the question is where? This can lead to an increase in existing political problems in the area, and more problems may arise in the coming years.
Social dependence on oil has conditioned the history of the world in recent centuries and it seems that, unfortunately, it will remain so in this new century.
Some relevant data:
- Global oil extraction: 1920: 95 million tons in 1950: 500 million tons in 1960: one billion tons in 1990: 3 billion tons in 2001: 125 billion tons.
- Amount of oil extracted daily: 9.3 million tons.
- Daily oil consumption: 10.41 million tons (57% of which are destined for transport).
- Number of oil tankers worldwide (January 2002): 3,500.
- Annual amount of oil transported by sea: 1.9 billion tons (62% of the total).
- Amount of oil transported daily by sea: 100 million tons.
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