Black Liquid Gold
Black Liquid Gold
Sienna Chitwood
Oil has been the subject of controversy since 1859 when it had its first big economic boom. Ever since, it has been sought after far and wide because of its potential. Countries around the world are known for their renowned oil production plants. Although it is not all about the
very profitable oil plants, it is also about the oil reserves where the oil is stored for millions of years that can be extracted and sold worldwide. These reserves have been the cause of controversy becausesince 1973, about 25% to 50% of the wars were started over this. The country that holds the title of having the largest oil reserve is Venezuela, and as of recently, the President of the United States has expressed interest in Venezuela’s oil reserve called the ‘Orinoco Belt’.
There are many oil reserves in the world. The amount of oil in a reserve is determined by the number of barrels of oil in that reserve. In Venezuela, for example, the Orinoco Belt has over 300 billion barrels. Venezuela is not the only oil reserve that has barrels in the billions. Saudi Arabia has about 260 barrels, and Iran has over 200 billion barrels. To determine this number, engineers use what’s called the ‘volumetric method’ to calculate the amount of oil in that reserve. History suggests that no matter the amount of oil, there are many conflicts waiting to get out of hand to form into an all-out war. Such wars that where waged partly due to the fact of oil disputes were the Persian Gulf War, the Iran-Iraq War, and many more.
There are not only oil reserves on land, but there are also oil reserves under the sea's surface. According to worldoceanreview.com, (a site that specializes in international reports about our oceans today and explains the world's events in nature due to man-made issues) “extracting oil from the oceans Around a third of the oil and gas extracted worldwide comes from offshore sources. This figure is likely to continue to rise over the coming decades, abundant oil and gas deposits still exist deep in the oceans. With many oil and gas fields in shallow waters, now close to being exhausted, companies have to penetrate greater depths to access these energy carriers.” No matter how we get the oil, there is a plain fact that there are billions of barrels of oil. Oil is not a renewable resource. This means that the nature on Earth made these resources over millions of years. Once we use them, they are gone, and the black liquid gold we all grew dependent on will lead to our societal collapse.