Oil
The word oil is derived from the Greek elaia by way of the Latin oleum, both of which mean olive. Olive oil and other clear oils derived from plants have been closely associated with civilization and health for thousands of years. In Genesis a dove brought an olive leaf to Noah as a sign that the biblical flood was over and humans could reinhabit the earth. The Greeks considered the olive tree to be a symbol of victory and purification. Oils have been part of diverse traditions of medical practice in many parts of the world. They have been used to treat wounds and for general care of the body. In addition, oils have been integral to the preparation of foods and fine cuisine. Three types of oil are recognized in the early twenty-first century: vegetable oil, animal oil, and rock oil. Olive oil is a vegetable oil, whale oil is an animal oil, and petroleum is rock oil.
From Oil for Health to Oil for Energy
From the perspective of modern science and technology, oil is liquid petroleum. Petroleum is composed primarily of hydrocarbon molecules with some inorganic impurities. It can exist in the solid, liquid, or gas phase. The phase depends on composition, temperature, and pressure. The average molecular weight of hydrocarbons in oil is usually greater than the average molecular weight of hydrocarbons in gas at the same temperature and pressure. Natural gas is predominantly methane.
People have used petroleum for thousands of years. As early as 3000 to 2000 B.C.E., Middle Eastern civilizations such as those in Egypt and Mesopotamia used oil to construct buildings, waterproof boats and other structures, and mummify bodies. During that period, small amounts of oil were collected from surface seepages. Arabs used oil to create incendiary weapons as early as 600 C.E. By the 1700s, oil produced from shale oil was being used in Europe to light streets in Modena, Italy, and to make paraffin wax candles in Scotland (Shepherd and Shepherd 2003).
American George Bissell has been called the person most responsible for creating the modern oil industry (Yergin 1992). Bissell realized in 1854 that rock oil—as oil was called in the nineteenth century to differentiate it from vegetable oil and animal fat—could be used in lighting and cooking. Bissel formed the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company of Connecticut in the mid-1850s and named James M. Townsend president.
Bissell and Townsend believed that rock oil could be produced from below the surface of the Earth in the same way that water was produced using water wells. Townsend commissioned Edwin L. Drake to drill a well in Oil Creek, near Titusville, Pennsylvania, where many oil seepages had been observed. The project began in 1857 and struck oil on August 27, 1859.
The value of oil increased dramatically as a result of the success of Drake's well. The abundant supply of rock oil served as a substitute for whale oil, which was growing scarce and expensive, and reduced the need to hunt whales for fuel. Within fifteen months of Drake's strike, Pennsylvania was producing 450,000 barrels per year from seventy-five wells. By 1862, 3 million barrels of oil were being produced and the price of oil dropped to ten cents per barrel (Kraushaar and Ristinen 1993).
The invention of the electric light bulb caused a drop in the demand for kerosene in 1882 and a corresponding drop in the demand for rock oil. The drop did not last long, however, because the rapidly expanding automobile industry needed oil for fuel and lubrication.
By 1900 Standard Oil, a company founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1870, held a virtual monopoly over oil production in the United States. Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act to reintroduce competition in the oil industry. By 1909 the United States was producing 500,000 barrels of oil per day, which was more oil than the combined production of all other countries. The United States produced more than half of the world oil supply in the first half of the twentieth century.
The Politics and Ethics of Oil
Discoveries of large deposits of oil in Central America, South America, and the Middle East in the early 1900s eventually led to increased production outside of the United States. Production in the continental United States peaked in 1970 and has since been declining. Oil demand has continued to grow, however, in both the United States and the rest of the world. Since 1948 the United States has imported more oil than it exports. In the early-twenty-first century, the United States imports about half of its oil (Deffeyes 2001).
Petroleum has been an internationally traded commodity since the end of the nineteenth century. International and multinational petroleum companies have appeared as a result of the global distribution of oil and its importance to societies around the world. These companies are based in a home country, but must operate within the regulatory framework of each host country. Relationships between oil producing companies and host countries vary widely. Most host countries issue licenses or leases to production companies.
Until 1973 oil prices were influenced by market demand and the supply of oil that was provided in large part by a group of oil companies called the Seven Sisters. In 1960 Saudi Arabia led the formation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC became a major player in the oil business in 1973 when it raised the price of oil exported by its members. This rise in price became known as the first oil crisis as prices for consumers in many countries increased significantly.
In the early-twenty-first century, nations around the world are concerned about the global dependence on finite resources and the environmental impact of fossil fuel combustion. For example, how should the supply of oil be distributed? Should developed nations encourage less developed nations to seek self-sufficiency? Or should all nations seek an equitable distribution of energy to prevent social turmoil? As another example, measurements of ambient air temperature have shown a rise in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere. The rising temperature is called global warming and is attributed in large part to the emission of fossil fuel combustion byproducts into the atmosphere. The need to address these concerns is motivating an international effort to implement a sustainable development policy as the world undergoes a transition from an energy mix dominated by fossil fuels to a broader energy mix that depends on a range of energy sources.
Energy;; Environmental Ethics;; Global Climate Change.
Bibliography
Deffeyes, Kenneth S. (2001). Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Describes a particular methodology for forecasting the supply of oil and predicts an impending oil shortage. Designed for a general readership.
Fanchi, John R. (2004). Energy: Technology and Directions for the Future. Boston: Elsevier. Reviews the science and technology of energy sources, the environmental impact of energy sources, and energy forecasts. Assumes the reader has a technical background.
Kraushaar, Jack J., and Robert A. Ristinen. (1993). Energy and Problems of a Technical Society, 2nd edition. New York: Wiley. Explains the technological problems of society to a non-technical audience.
Shepherd, William, and D. W. Shepherd. (2003). Energy Studies, 2nd edition. London: Imperial College Press; River Edge, NJ: World Scientific. Reviews several energy sources primarily for a general readership.
Yergin, Daniel. (1992). The Prize. New York: Simon and Schuster. Provides a historical introduction to the modern oil industry.
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