Since the birth of the modern oil industry in the late 19th century, tens of millions of wells have been drilled, and upwards of 1.5 trillion barrels of oil have been extracted. That is enough oil to fill about 96 million Olympic-sized swimming pools! Onshore wells have been drilled in nearly every type of terrestrial ecosystem, and every continent except Antarctica has oil extraction in its coastal marine ecosystems.
The release of methane to the atmosphere is a major focus of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, accounting for about 20% of anthropogenic global warming since 1750.1Â Since 2007, globally averaged atmospheric methane has been increasing at an accelerating rate.2Â In addition to its impact on climate, methane contributes to the formation of
How much oil is in the ground? That question has been asked for 150 years at local, national, and global scales. A precise answer is unknowable because most oil exists thousands of meters below the surface of the Earth, and it can be identified and measured only after drilling extremely expensive wells. But that hasn’t stopped legions of scientists and
In March 2022 President Biden announced that he would authorize the release of up to 180 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to help lower gasoline prices in the wake of market disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine War.1 Can such action lower prices at the pump? Let’s take a look. What is the Strategic Petroleum
With 4% of the world’s population, the United States consumes 40% of the world’s oil, due largely to its consumption of travel and shipping by its 267 million cars and trucks that are inefficient relative to other countries. The United States has substantial oil resources, accounting for about 17% of all oil ever produced in the world. Nevertheless, domestic supply
Since the birth of the modern oil industry in the late 19th century, tens of millions of wells have been drilled, and upwards of 1.5 trillion barrels of oil have been extracted. That is enough oil to fill about 96 million Olympic-sized swimming pools! Onshore wells have been drilled in nearly every type of terrestrial ecosystem, and every continent except Antarctica has oil extraction in its coastal marine ecosystems.
The release of methane to the atmosphere is a major focus of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, accounting for about 20% of anthropogenic global warming since 1750.1Â Since 2007, globally averaged atmospheric methane has been increasing at an accelerating rate.2Â In addition to its impact on climate, methane contributes to the formation of
How much oil is in the ground? That question has been asked for 150 years at local, national, and global scales. A precise answer is unknowable because most oil exists thousands of meters below the surface of the Earth, and it can be identified and measured only after drilling extremely expensive wells. But that hasn’t stopped legions of scientists and
In March 2022 President Biden announced that he would authorize the release of up to 180 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to help lower gasoline prices in the wake of market disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine War.1 Can such action lower prices at the pump? Let’s take a look. What is the Strategic Petroleum
With 4% of the world’s population, the United States consumes 40% of the world’s oil, due largely to its consumption of travel and shipping by its 267 million cars and trucks that are inefficient relative to other countries. The United States has substantial oil resources, accounting for about 17% of all oil ever produced in the world. Nevertheless, domestic supply
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