On the Origin of World Oil and Other Fossil Fuels

Oil Since the first successful oil wells were drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania in , heralding the beginning of the oil age, global oil output has climbed from just 2 million a day in million barrels a day to over 96 million barrels a day currently, boosted considerably by hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling in the U.

The history of fossil fuels

Numerous innovations in exploration, field development and more recently adoption of digitization and internet of things technologies have improved productivity and reduced costs throughout the value chain from upstream operations. The advent of the motor car at the beginning of the 20th century assured the success of oil. The First World War further stimulated the demand for oil as ships were modified to use oil instead of coal and production of planes and tanks fueled by oil increased.

Oil became a strategic resource and was sought after by British and French oil companies in modern day Iraq and Iran. Until the mid s, the U. The Iranian revolution of encouraged oil-consuming nations to reduce their reliance on oil and the Middle East. For its part, the U. Drilling for oil in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico and more latterly in Africa established large alternative supplies. To curb demand, governments encouraged energy efficiency and for environmental protection provided subsidies first, for renewables and now for electric cars.

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Increases in supply and a slower growth in demand combined to cause the current oil glut, which is responsible for a halving of prices since the summer of This has caused OPEC and non-members to cut oil production to bring supply and demand into better balance and therefore, increase in price. Natural gas Gas, produced from coal, lit streets in Paris , London , and Baltimore It was not until the late s with the introduction of Liquid Natural Gas cooling technologies in Algeria that gas could be shipped around the world, opening up prospects for later production in Qatar and Australia and feeding markets in Europe, China, Japan and Asia.

The manufacture and laying of pipelines to distribute gas has improved incrementally over time. Originally modern gas pipes were made from wood or lead and later by wrought iron, which was succeeded by steel and now, new pipelines are made from plastic. Likewise, improvements in pipe manufacture and laying techniques increased the practicality and penetration of gas pipelines. For example, the first long-distance gas pipeline was just 25 miles long and was built in Quebec in Today, Europe is in the midst of completing a 3,mile Trans Adriatic Pipeline linking gas fields in Central Asia with Italy, the entry point for the European market.

The pipeline is crossing several mountain chains, earthquake zones and seabed of the Adriatic. In recent years, gas has begun to displace oil and coal in power generation and for heating homes. Now, forecasters are predicting a new gas boom as intermittent renewable sources of energy, particularly wind and solar, are paired with gas to provide backup power in hybrid power plants.

The policy imperative to contain rising global temperature below 2 degrees centigrade, by reducing emissions from fossil fuels, has perhaps inaugurated a series of measures to reduce the growth in demand for coal. Concern with air quality has slowed demand for coal but boosted demand for gas. Already, oil companies have diversified into gas, increasingly seen as a bridging fuel towards a low-carbon future. The absence of a suitable replacement for aviation oil, combined with increasing passenger numbers and flights, demand for oil from this sector is forecast to increase despite the recent launch of quieter and more fuel-efficient engines.

When drivers forsake their petrol car then, like coal, oil will meet its peak demand. However, increasing world population and industrialization in India and perhaps Africa could forestall the end of the global fossil fuel age for some decades. Skip to content en. This web site uses — proprietary and third-party — technical cookies and content personalization cookies. By closing this banner or clicking on OK, you are providing your consent to the use of cookies. You can deny consent to the use of cookies by referring to the Cookie Policy.

Pre-industrial era Coal Some of the earliest evidence of the use of coal comes from the Fushun mine in northeastern China where it was used to smelt copper as early as B. Conclusion The policy imperative to contain rising global temperature below 2 degrees centigrade, by reducing emissions from fossil fuels, has perhaps inaugurated a series of measures to reduce the growth in demand for coal.

A brief history of natural gas Education. Semisolid hydrocarbons from seeps were also burned in ancient times, but these materials were mostly used for waterproofing and embalming. Prior to the latter half of the eighteenth century, windmills or watermills provided the energy needed for industry, such as milling flour , sawing wood, or pumping water and burning wood or peat provided domestic heat.

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The wide scale use of fossil fuels, coal at first and petroleum later, to fire steam engines, enabled the Industrial Revolution. At the same time, gas lights using natural gas or coal gas were coming into wide use. The invention of the internal combustion engine and its use in automobiles and trucks greatly increased the demand for gasoline and diesel oil , both made from fossil fuels. Other forms of transportation, railways and aircraft , also required fossil fuels. The other major use for fossil fuels is in generating electricity. The principle of supply and demand suggests that as hydrocarbon supplies diminish, prices will rise.

Therefore, higher prices will lead to increased alternative, renewable energy supplies, as previously uneconomic sources become sufficiently economical to exploit. Artificial gasolines and other renewable energy sources currently require more expensive production and processing technologies than conventional petroleum reserves, but may become economically viable in the near future.

Fossil fuel - New World Encyclopedia

Different alternative sources of energy include alcohols, hydrogen , nuclear , hydroelectric, solar, wind, and geothermal. Levels of primary energy sources are the reserves in the ground. The most important part of primary energy sources are the carbon based fossil energy sources. Oil , coal, and gas stood for Levels reserves [13] [14]. Flows daily production during 7. Note that this calculation assumes that the product could be produced at a constant level for that number of years and that all of the reserves could be recovered. In reality, consumption of all three resources has been increasing.

While this suggests that the resource will be used up more quickly, in reality, the production curve is much more akin to a bell curve. At some point in time, the production of each resource within an area, country, or globally will reach a maximum value, after which, the production will decline until it reaches a point where is no longer economically feasible or physically possible to produce.

The above discussion emphasizes worldwide energy balance. Specific alternatives to fossil fuels are a subject of intense debate worldwide. In the United States, more than 90 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from the combustion of fossil fuels. The electricity sector is unique among industrial sectors in its very large contribution to emissions associated with nearly all air issues. Electricity generation produces a large share of Canadian nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide emissions, which contribute to smog and acid rain and the formation of fine particulate matter.

It is the largest uncontrolled industrial source of mercury emissions in Canada. Fossil fuel-fired electric power plants also emit carbon dioxide, which may contribute to climate change. In addition, the sector has significant impacts on water and habitat and species.

In particular, hydro dams and transmission lines have significant effects on water and biodiversity. Combustion of fossil fuels generates sulphuric, carbonic, and nitric acids , which fall to Earth as acid rain , impacting both natural areas and the built environment. Monuments and sculptures made from marble and limestone are particularly vulnerable, as the acids dissolve calcium carbonate. Fossil fuels also contain radioactive materials, mainly uranium and thorium , that are released into the atmosphere.

In , about 12, metric tons of thorium and 5, metric tons of uranium were released worldwide from burning coal.

Fossil fuel

Burning coal also generates large amounts of bottom ash and fly ash. These materials are used in a wide variety of applications, utilizing, for example, about 40 percent of the U. Harvesting, processing, and distributing fossil fuels can also create environmental problems. Coal mining methods, particularly mountaintop removal and strip mining, have extremely negative environmental impacts, and offshore oil drilling poses a hazard to aquatic organisms.

Oil refineries also have negative environmental impacts, including air and water pollution. Transportation of coal requires the use of diesel-powered locomotives, while crude oil is typically transported by tanker ships, each of which requires the combustion of additional fossil fuels. Environmental regulation uses a variety of approaches to limit these emissions, such as command-and-control which mandates the amount of pollution or the technology used , economic incentives, or voluntary programs.

An example of such regulation in the U. Under regulations issued in , coal-fired power plants will need to reduce their emissions by 70 percent by In economic terms, pollution from fossil fuels is regarded as a negative externality.

Taxation is considered one way to make societal costs explicit, in order to "internalize" the cost of pollution. This aims to make fossil fuels more expensive, thereby reducing their use and the amount of pollution associated with them, along with raising the funds necessary to counteract these factors. Although European nations impose some pollution taxes, they also give billions of subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, offsetting the taxes. Many in America believe that a move away from an economy that is solely dependent on fossil fuels will allow a more even-handed approach to foreign policy.

Former CIA Director James Woolsey recently outlined the national security arguments in favor of moving away from fossil fuels.