The Environmental Impact of Offshore Drilling Can Be Contolled

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Petroleum seepages, in some form or another have been around since ancient times for boat caulking, road mending, and as medicine, however, the modern petroleum industry was truly born with the first drilled oil well in August 1859 by Edwin L. Drake at Titusville, PA. (Laudon, 347) At first, in the United States, oil production was controlled by small operators but by the late 1870's John D. Rockfeller had purchased most of the nation's refineries-controlling the United States industry. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1911 split Rockfeller's Standard Oil Trust into three smaller companies; today they are known as Mobil, Chevron, and Exxon. (Lynch, 214) Since that time, oil has become a major part of everyone's way of life. Oil is used to provide fuel for automobiles, tractors, trucks, aircraft and ships. Petroleum products are the basic materials used for the manufacture of synthetic fibers for clothing and in plastics, paints, fertilizers, insecticides, soaps, and synthetic rubber etc... (Lynch, 207) Due to this demand, companies are constantly searching for more oil deposits.

Today the petroleum companies have progressed so much that they are able to drill offshore. The reason that we drill offshore is because approximately one third of the world's oil resides in offshore fields. (Lynch, 213) There are many ways to drill oil from the ocean floor.

The most common way is to construct a steel drilling platform on the ocean floor. Other ways are, first a jack-up rig which is used in waters of up to 200 feet. The rig rests on a floating platform attached to steel legs that can be jacked up or down. It is moved by workers lowering the platform into the water and jacking up the legs off the ocean floor. Gener...

... middle of paper ...

...ural gas is very expensive. The main positive aspect is that, when burned, natural gas gives off lower emissions to our environment oil. In the future, due to its great abundance, I am sure that offshore drilling will remain viable to our society for many years to come.

Works Cited

Burger, Joanna.Before and After an Oil Spill.New Jersey:

Rutger University Press, 1994.

Cairns, John Jr., and Arthur L.Buikema, JrRestoration of

Habitats Imported By Oil Spills.Boston:Butterworth Publishers, 1984.

Laudon, Robert C. "Petroleum." Gas and ELectric 8 July

1992: 330-350.

<BR<

Lynch, Michael C. "Fundamentals of the Petroleum Industry."Oil and

Gas Journal 6 August 1990: 207-215.

Steinhauer, William G. "California Study Compares Natural Drilling

Discharge Contaminants Offshore."Oil and Gas Journal 6 August 74-92.

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