Oil pollution

Oil pollution

History of Oil and Gas Industry

During the 20th century, the oil and gas industry was dominated by the United States, the Dutch Indies, and the Russians. However, efforts were put underway during the first decade of the 21st century to explore oil in the Middle East. The first country in the Middle East to be explored was Iran, formerly known as Persia, which was followed by Turkey. The Burgan oil fields were discovered during the late 1930s in Kuwait. After another decade, in Saudi Arabia, the Ghawar oil fields were discovered. Ghawar was the largest oil field to be discovered and is still the largest oil field in the world.

The offshore petroleum and gas industry began years before the commencing of the world war two. By world war two, military forces were already using petroleum and gas as a source of strategy to strengthen their income capability. The end of the world war two signaled the commencing of offshore oil and gas production companies, which were stimulated by both the local people and military returning to war.

After the Second World War two came to an end, the bigger oil companies were eager to keep exploring, and extend their quest for greater oil companies. The oil companies moved to the Gulf of Mexico. Small companies also started moving in the same direction as the big companies seeking stability in the oil business (McNeill, 2000, page 300). There was an offshore battle between the companies fighting for space. The smaller companies were unable to develop a proper system linking the offshore the onshore for market purposes, hence they were unable to sustain their operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

The first companies, to arrive at the Gulf of Mexico secured the better shore at the right time. The gulf had a slope, which gently stretched out for around 100 miles before reaching a water depth of around 300 feet. The companies therefore had the ability to make step by step inside the sea developing new technologies (McNeill, 2000, page 300). As the companies moved onwards, they were able to draw the experts and workforce from the developed oil companies operating onshore. Due to quick discoveries, the Gulf of Mexico quickly grew encouraging the companies to make more investments.

The active oil companies carried on their activities until in the late 1940s when the tideland controversy erupted leading to temporary halting of the lease the companies had acquired. The State government together with the federal government moved to court to seek justice against illegal ownership of the offshore lands. The case got heated up during the presidential campaigns in 1952 (McNeill, 2000, page 320). The leasing controversy gave the oil companies a brake to look back and strategize new designs for the offshore industries, and learning about the sea waves and the soil condition in the Gulf if it was suitable for building of larger companies.

By 1970, the oil companies had fully exploited the Gulf of Mexico. The companies were beginning to find a solution for the notorious hurricanes, which had been a hindrance to the growth of the offshore oil companies (McNeill, 2000, page 302). The offshore industry was solving engineering problems, where necessary, by the usage of estimates of hurricane generated forces (McNeill, 2000, page 312). During the 1960s, the Gulf of Mexico experienced three major hurricanes, but the offshore industry responded by taking a hard collective look at assumptions made by the traditions. The hurricanes led to the creation of the API offshore committee in 1966 whose job was to define, publicize, and modify the best standards to carryout offshore operations. The API committee also was concerned with the safety and design of the offshore.

Adverse Impacts of the Oil and Gas Industry on the Environment

Oil spillage has been known to be a killer of wildlife. Small oil spills including those during the extraction are not headlined but can be very dangerous to the life of human being and vegetation. During the process of oil extraction, drilling fluids are used as lubrication for the drilling machines. The oil based fluids are spilled around the drilling zone. The oil spillages have a long term effects on animals through inhaling of the toxic chemicals. The oil and chemical spills are capable of:

• Destruction of the liver, and kidney, and also cause harm to cerebrum, spleen or other different organs of an animal when inhaled.
• Causing malignant growth, insusceptible framework concealment, and conceptive disappointment.
• Leading to the growth of malignant tissues, also leads to conceptive dissatisfaction, and breeding area.

During the exploration process, the oil companies always investigate the presence of hydrocarbons in the sea bed using high sound machines. The commercial fish is sensitive to sound hence may lead to death of the fish or lead to the community of fishes vacating from their habitat; the lava of the fish might even die due to the high sounds produced by the machines. The disturbance caused, may lead to the reduction of the amount of fish reproducing.

The combustion of oil products leads to an increase in carbon dioxide outflow and other ozone harming gases. Swedish Nobel physicist Svante Arrhenius examined the principal study on the impacts of carbon dioxide. Svante’s numerical model indicated that the rise in the amount of carbon dioxide leads to the rise in global warming (Steve, 2016, page 290). The usage of oil for transport, and household use is one of the main reasons leading to intoxication of air. Other harmful gases causing side effects also produced are carbon monoxide and nitrates. These results respond to the climate to deliver ozone and other ozone-destroying materials. The rise in air intoxication has resulted to global warming.

BP Deep-Water Horizon Oil Spill

The Deep-water Horizon rig, owned and operated by seaward oil-penetrating organization Transocean and rented by oil organization known as BP, was situated in the Macondo oil prospect in the Mississippi Gulch, a valley in the mainland rack. The oil well was situated 4992 feet down the seabed with an extension of 18000 feet into the rock (Jean-Francois, 2010). During the spill out, the cores were likely too weak to withstand the pressure. The rig capsized and sank, causing the spillage of oil. Oil spillage led to quick effects to theliving animals of the Bay of Mexico that could be seen with the naked eye: pelicans dark with oil, fish tummy up in darker ooze, covered turtles appeared on seashores. In any case, very little time has gone since the spill, and it will take a lot more long stretches of checking and research to comprehend what occurred.

Following the BP oil spillage, irrespective of the marine species being affected, the deep-sea corals were also damaged. A gulf coral community was found dead a few miles away from where the oil spillage happened, which was half a football field. The spillage has had a long term effect on the surrounding ecosystem. The number of dolphins is still low, some dolphins were also discovered with oil patches on their body, but they were already dead. The oil spillage also led to the loss of marsh vegetation along the United States coastline. After a study of the contaminated sand along the contaminated beaches, the number of organisms had rapidly reduced after the spillage.

Louisiana’s Pollution Case

Companies like the BP, Shell, and ExxonMobil leased pieces of land from Louisiana landowners for the extraction of oil. The process of extraction continued until in the mid-1980s, when the companies decided to move their operation offshore. The companies left most of the land they occupied contaminated with oil.

Around that time, an industry built up a technique for infusing waste in saltwater transfer wells, a more secure practice than pit transfer, and one that before long turned into the essential strategy. A few states prohibited unlined pits (Steve, 2016, page 294). Yet, in Louisiana, organizations kept on putting away saltwater in them until the 1980s (and still, after all that, state controllers, who were regularly oilmen themselves, permitted a three-year effortlessness period for closing down the pits).

The American companies stored Brine in open pits. Brine is believed to be composed of chromium, benzene, lead, and carcinogens and other traces of radioactive elements. Brine is considered to have endangered the vegetation and the groundwater.

Five years later, after oil spillage along the Louisiana coast, residents and some of the fishermen confessed that the cleanup process was far from getting completed. People who lived in the coastal region often fell sick, while the fishermen went home with empty nets. Sometimes the offshore sand had black patches indicating that the oil spillage had not been completely recovered. The number of tourists along the coast reduced, and businesses declined due to the uncomfortability caused by the oil spillage like foul petroleum smell.

In conclusion, oil and gas companies have caused a lot of pollution in the environment. Oil spillage in the sea from leading companies like BP have endangered the life of water vegetation, and animals living in the sea due to the spillage caused in the Gulf of Mexico (Steve, 2016, page 281). The extraction of gases has also caused air pollution and acidic rain due to the mixing of acidic gases with fresh air to cause acidic rain.

Reference list

Jean-Francois Mouhot, interview by Jan Oosthoek, # 39: Slavery, Fossil Fuel Use, and Climate    Change: Past Connections, Present Similarities, Exploring Environmental History,           podcast audio, December 8, 2010, http://www.eh-  resources.org/podcast/podcast2010.html

McNeill, J. R. “Fuels, Tools, and Economics.” In Something New Under the Sun: An         Environmental History of the Twentieth Century World, 296-324. New York, New York:        W.W. Norton, 2000

Steve Penfold, “Petroleum Liquids,” In Ruth Sandwell Ed. Powering Up Canada: A History Of Power, Energy And Fuel From 1600 (Montreal: Mcgill-Queen’s, 2016): 274-299

The UK National Energy Grid: History of an Energy Landscape and its Impacts,” YouTube         video, 03:06, posted by  “Environmental History Resources,” March 6,     2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGWJzOtj93s