“Crude Awakening”
Oil is a very interesting substance. It helps us drive cars, heat our houses and is also in plastic. But some people say that the worlds oil supply won’t last long. U.S. government scientists think that there are 2.6 trillion barrels left. 1.7 trillion barrels are “discovered” oil and 900 billion barrels are “undiscovered” oil. The western part of the U.S. has oil shale. Oil Shale has to heated to 900 degrees Fahrenheit so that they can pump it out of the ground. OPEC controls the Persian Gulf region of the Middle East making it have 65 % of the worlds oil supply. They limit their oil exports so that can keep prices up. That means that the non-OPEC countries have to rely on their oil supply which runs out faster. Paul Roberts[ the author of a book called The End Of Oil] has some suggestions like people could start driving gas-electronic Hybrids or a MiniCAT[ which run on compressed air] in stead of using liquid Petroleum. It would be better for the environment if we could get off our dependency of oil.
Credit goes to Emma Davy for “Crude Awakening” Current Science 3-05
