And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say … see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
—Rev. 6:6(b)
4008 Origin Of Oil
According to science: Oil was formed when the remains of primitive forms of life settled at the bottom of the seas. Large collections of these organisms turned into drops of oil, and as the floor of the sea was covered with sediments, the oil became trapped in pools.
The sediment took many shapes and formed different kinds of rock over the countless years. During this time the surface of the earth was subjected to buckling, uplifting, lowering, and sliding.
The sea bottom of prehistoric times may be thousands of feet above sea level today, due to uplifting. Or the ancient sea bottom may lie deep under today’s dry land or ocean, due to lowering. They are the pools of oil trapped under rock, formed in prehistoric times, that man starts up and moves off on some errand. Men are running on a part of the remains of billions upon billions of primitive organisms.
According to the Bible: God made it out of nothing at the touch of a word. Can it not be said that the omniscient Creator—having knowledge of all history and prophecy—located oil in the Middle East area for purposes of fulfilling end-time prophecies?
4009 Oil Made In 20 Minutes
The Bible-Science News Letter reports that research chemists at the Interior Department’s Coal Research Center in Pittsburgh have developed a process of waste conversion that produces just over a barrel of crude oil from each ton of garbage. The chemists mix wet, ground garbage with carbon monoxide and steam under pressure at about 700 degrees for 20 minutes to form a substance which is 40 percent crude oil and 60 percent water. Since science has discovered that man can make oil in 20 minutes, perhaps scientists will be willing to believe that God did not need 50 million years to do the same thing.
4010 Where On Earth Are Oil?
The total supply of unused oil on earth is estimated at 2 trillion barrels.
Oil deposits can be found throughout the world. One-half of this world’s potential supply is either in the Arab-dominated Mideast or in the Communist world—Russia, China and the Eastern European countries. And about 80% are in the so-called “Oil-axis poles,” that is, the Gulf-Caribbean and the Mesopotamian-Persian Gulf areas.
4011 World’s Known Reserves
About three-quarters of the world’s known oil reserves are in the Middle East and North Africa. About one-half of total reserves are in the countries bordering the Persian Gulf.
The difficulties are: (1) Middle East supplies are not limitless, (2) Unexpected restrictions by oil producers, (3) Periodic surges and depressions in demand, (4) Delays in planned capacity, (5) Political relations between oil-producing and oil-consuming nations, and (6) New oil finds seem to be in more difficult terrains and environments, such as the Arctic and under oceans.
The major producing regions today include Texas and California in the United States, Alberta in Canada, Venezuela, the Middle East, Indonesia, Russia, North Africa, and the North Sea.
4012 Origin Of Oil Industry
The modern oil industry began with the discovery of crude oil in western Ontario in 1857. But the development of the internal combustion engine at the beginning of the 20th century set off a phenomenal growth of the petroleum industry.
4013 Most Everything Now Uses Oil
The US commodities shortage has impressed on the reading public the indispensability of oil in the most unexpected places. Phonograph records, for instance, are on the shortage list because the factories cannot turn out enough vinyl to meet the demand of pressers.
There is a petrochemical behind nearly everything on supermarket shelves, except the food counter. Even there, oil is not exactly a missing ingredient. Fertilizers to enrich garden soil, and insecticides to protect plants against pests are petrochemical products.
4014 World’s Energy Consumption
Of total world energy consumption, oil and gas occupied 65%.
Increasingly, however, oil has been called upon to fill in because other fuels have not increased as fast as energy demand. Oil demand rises 7% per year, and could be doubled by 1985.
As leading experts see it, world production of oil will peak in 1990, then steadily decline. By 2050, total supply of 2 trillion barrels will be exhausted. Unless efforts start now to find other sources, the world will face disaster by the middle of next century.
4015 U. S. Oil Consumption
The U. S. consumed nearly one-third of total world oil production. Nearly half of this must be imported, 30% coming from the Persian Gulf region.
US government experts have predicted that world oil shortage would set in before 1982 at the earliest and 1985 at the latest—driving up prices sky-high.
4016 The OPEC
Note that the 13 OPEC nations are: Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Algeria, Libya, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Ecuador, Indonesia, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, and Gabon, which is an associate member.
4017 Oil From Alaska
The 800-mile Alaskan pipeline is almost finished after 10 years and $8 billion. But North Slope production is found to have too much sulphur for West Coast cracking plants.
A solution: Ship Alaskan crude to Japan, who will give up rights to Arab crude, which could be shipped to Eastern U.S. ports and pipelined to the Midwest.
But a result: Increased U.S. imports and continued dependence on Arab oil.
4018 President Carter’s Warning
U. S. President Jimmy Carter warned in 1977:
“If the world’s use of oil continues at present rates, demand will exceed international production by the early 1980s. Just to stay even would require the production of a new Texas every year, an Alaskan North Slope every nine months or a new Saudi Arabia every three years.”
4019 What Is Left In U. S. Oil
The U.S. has pumped out nearly half its oil. Remaining is an estimated 127 billion barrels. Of that, 35 billion barrels has been “proved” by drilling. The rest is potential.
4020 Looking Back From Future
History will look back on the sesquicentennial, 1900 to 2050, from the first spurt of oil at Spindletop (Texas) to the last slurp in Saudi Arabia, as the era when those residing on Planet Earth consumed the 2 trillion barrels of crude oil which had required an alleged 3 billion years to create.
4021 Substitute Sources
Based on potential reserves in the U.S., including proved reserves and those ultimately available with new technology, the long-range U.S. energy picture seems to be bright:
Oil… …58 years’ supply at current use rate
Natural Gas… …52 years’ supply
Coal… …3,094 years’ supply
Nuclear Fuel… …100 years’ supply
Shale Oil… …32 years’ supply
When added up, these resources give the U.S. the greatest energy potential of any Western nation by far.
The problem: How to plan a long-range strategy to bring this vast energy potential to market and put it to work in the U.S. economy.
4022 Limitations Of Atomic Energy
Like the US, all the world has built its economy around oil. There has been talk about atomic energy being turned to peaceful use ever since the explosions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But this seems in retrospect nothing but an apology for nuclear bombs.
The so-called peaceful atom may never replace oil in the world economy.
Atomic energy may run factories instead of electrical generators, which are dependent on oil fuels. But the materials needed to produce the synthetics that modern man cannot do without can come only from oil and its related petrochemical industries.
4023 The Car That Started It All
A car wreck in 1907 changed the face of industry and is largely responsible for much of the pollution problem today. At the turn-of-the-century the American automobile industry was in the throes of indecision. Two courses lay before them: to follow the well-defined path of steam propulsion, or to explore the lesser-known by-way of gasoline power. Steam seemed to have the brightest future.
At the annual automobile races in Ormond, Florida, that fateful year, several gasoline cars had unsuccessfully tried to reach the 100-mph mark. Then Stanley Steamer, looking like a canoe turned upside down and nicknamed the “Flying Teakettle,” took to the track. Fifty years later, driver Fred Marriott explained what happened:
“I quickly got up to 197 miles per hour, and the speed was rising fast when the car hit a slight bump. I felt it twist a little in the air. It rose off the beach and traveled a hundred feet through the air before it struck. I was thrown clear and pretty badly smashed. The machine was broken to pieces, with the boiler rolling and blowing steam like a meteor, for a mile down the beach.”
In this manner the myth was born that a Steamer was just too fast to stay on the ground. Following came many legends about the car, which finally doomed its success and ushered in the age of the gasoline engine. Motor expert John Carlova feels this was the turning point of the industry. Perhaps if the course of the steam engine had been followed, our problems would not be so critical today.
—C. R. Hembree
4024 Mixed Blessings Of Technology
Technological advances can bring financial reverses to men in business, as well as economic gain. To take just one field, consider lighting and how improvements in lighting may have affected investors.
For the century from 1750 to 1850, whale oil was the principal source of energy for providing light. Whaling ships sailing from New England ports were big business in this country. But several things happened to change this. First, English steamships came on the scene and American sailing vessels could not compete with them. Second, shortly after mid-century the whale population had declined dangerously and kerosene from petroleum became abundant. And, third, the Welsbach mantle was produced in 1886, which tripled the light output of both kerosene lamps and gas burners.
It is interesting to note that the Welsbach mantle, instead of cutting the consumption of fuel for lighting to a third, increased the demand for fuel manifold by providing more attractive light. In about 1880, the electric industry was founded to provide light. Electric lighting again created an increased demand for light until, at the present time, much electric power produced in the United States is consumed by lamps.
—Dean A. McGee
See also: Automobile ; Energy Crisis ; Middle East.