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More
than 65 per cent of the World’s oil reserves are in the Middle East, around the
Persian Gulf |
| OIL A PHANTOM ECOSYSTEM Fossil
fuels are nothing but the energy of ecosystems of yesterday found buried deep inside the
earth today. William Rees, author of ‘Our Ecological Footprint’ calls these
ecosystems phantom land.. The ecosystems are long dead and gone. But we are still using
the fruits of those ecosystems, their trapped energy. (see diagram on right). It is as if
those dead ecosystems are as much present as all other ecosystems whose resources we use
today! |
aanmo
re. |
How petroleum and natural gas are formed |
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| Tiny sea plants and animals died and were buried on the
ocean floor. Over time, they were covered by layers of sand and silt. |
Over millions of years, the remains were buried deeper and
deeper. The enormous heat and pressure turned them into oil and gas. |
Today, we drill down through layers of sand, silt, and
rock to reach the rock formations that contain oil and gas deposits.
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| Typical oil well in
Saudi Arabia produces 10,000 barrels per day; oil wells in the US, about 15 barrels per
day |
PRODUCTS |
Distribution of
proved oil reserves 2001
Thousand million barels%
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Thousand million barrels
Source: BP Annual Energy Review, 2001 |
INDIANOIL
Oil production in India amounts to 35-40 mmt annually.Our total
reserves will last us only for the next 20 years.The total oil refining capacity in
India has increased from 69.14 mtpa in 1999 to 109 mtpa in January 2000. This accounts for
almost 2.7% of the world refining capacity. Coal still constitutes
over 56% of the total energy consumption in India. India is the world's
eighth largest consumer of oil and imports 70% of the energy that it uses.
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| Exxon-Mobil, the world’s largest oil
company showed an annual profit of 17 billion dollars in the ear 2001 |
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