Now a days we still rely on oil as one of our most valuable nonrenewable resources. We continually use oil everyday whether we are driving a car, using electricity, using our phones, and many more. As the world around us continues to grow so does our need for more energy. As of right now there is not a renewable resource that guarantees a sustainable future so as we continue our search to find this source we have to continue to rely on nonrenewable resources such as oil. Today there is an estimated 1.688 trillion barrels of oil left on Earth that we know of. That’s enough oil left for about 50 years at our current use. As we continue to need oil that means we have to continue to drill for it and a much of our drilling takes place offshore. Offshore drilling is the extraction of petroleum from beneath the sea. The ocean covers about seventy percent of Earths surface therefore most of Earths oil reserves end up under water. One of the biggest challenges is reaching these under water reserves and extracting oil without polluting the ocean. Offshore drilling sites consist of many parts that cost billions of dollars to construct. Oilrigs are huge structures some people even refer to them as floating cities. On the main floating oil platform there is housing and offices for hundreds of workers and huge lifts and machinery used to extract and transport the oil. Beneath the floating platform is piping that descends thousands of feet into the depths of the ocean floor. Most of the offshore drilling in the United States takes place in the Gulf of Mexico. Offshore drilling is a huge source of our petroleum supply and has many benefits but it is also very controversial presenting huge environmental risks.
Offshore drilling comes with a ton of benefits in several aspects of our lives. To start, offshore drilling increases our oil supply drastically as we continue to find more reserves under the ocean and develop technology to get to the reserves. Increasing our oil supply buys us more time in the future to find a sustainable energy source and easing our transition into the next era of energy. Increasing our oil supply also helps stimulate the economy and keeps our society going. Offshore drilling provides jobs because a variety of skilled workers are required to operate the equipment, transport the oil and build the oil rigs. Some of the required skilled jobs include petroleum engineers, underwater welders, site managers, and many more. This helps small towns near the coast and builds business in the areas near the oil rig as people move toward the area for work. Offshore drilling also allows countries to become more self reliant. If we produce more oil on our own we wont depend on other countries such as Saudi Arabia for oil. Finally offshore rigs will help decrease the price of oil because supply will increase and transportation will be cheaper. These benefits are all great but off shore drilling also poses huge dangers and threats to our environment.
Offshore drilling comes with many environmental risks making it very controversial. One of the biggest negatives that is associated with offshore drilling is oil spills. Oil spills in the ocean can be very catastrophic to the environment and marine life in the ocean. There has been several offshore oil spills in the United States the worst being the BP Oil spill in 2010. The BP oil spill also known as Deep Water Horizon is the largest marine oil spill in history and ended with 11 people losing their lives. It took place in the Gulf of Mexico about 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The Natural gas on the Oil Rig ignited causing a huge explosion that lead to the cracking of the pipe where oil leaked from. Oil that leaked from the well peeked at about 60,000 barrels of oil a day. Approximately 4.9 million barrels of oil had leaked into the gulf before it was capped. The clean-up effort continued to take place for years after. This oil spill had killed thousands of fish, birds, and destroyed aquatic habitat all along the gulf as the current carried the oil. Another negative that comes with offshore drilling is that it releases carbon emissions into the Earth’s atmosphere as they drill into the sea bed. The final negative of offshore drilling is that it is a very dangerous job and poses a threat to people’s lives.
There are many benefits and negatives that come with off shore drilling. By no means is it a solution to a sustainable future but it can buy us some more time as we find and reach more oil reserves at the bottom of the ocean. As of right now we only have about 50 years of oil left so finding new reserves and improving drilling technology could be essential for our future.
References:
https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/offshore-drilling.htm
https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill-of-2010