Petroleum+--+Obtaining+the+Resource


 * Petroleum -- Obtaining the Resource**

=**Oil can be found in many different areas of the world. 115 of the 196 countries in the world produce oil and of those only 12 of them are in the OPEC (Orgazination of Petroleum Exporting Countries). Oil is found in 6 countries: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia. Most of the countriesare China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, United States, Iran, and Venezuela. To tell if oil is likely somewhere, geologists look at the types of rocks and their arrangement. Although, oil is not just found on land though. It is also found on bodies of water such as the Atlantic Ocean, the Persian Gulf, and the Gulf of Mexico. In the U.S., 1/3 of the oil comes from offshore. Texas has the most oil in the United States and Alaska has the second most oil in the U.S. Then, Calfornia and fourth is North Dakota and finally, Louisiana has the fifth most oil in the United States. Oil has many different locations in the world.**=

== = = =**Once people have located the oil, they have to obtain it. One way is to use thumping trucks that create seismic waves, which locate oil. A second way is to go into the air with a magnetometer that reads how high or low the magnetism of a rock is. If a rock has low magnetic readings, then it might have oil. If it has high readings, than it probably will not have oil in it. In the sea, bubbles of compressed air is released which send out vibrations that go to the seabed and come back to the ground as sound waves and people can tell whether there is oil or not. After oil is discovered it is drilled out of the ground. In a similar way there are several methods to get oil out of the ground. A way to get oil is a "nodding donkey". A nodding donkey is a type of pump that goes down and retrieves the oil then moves back up. It is called a nodding donkey because it looks like a donkey nodding.**= = =

Nodding Donkey movie, watch it! Tip for the first movie you msut click the play your story button. The second movie is the same movie but for movie maker and newer computers.
=**Another way to get oil is usually accidental. It happens when oil comes out of the ground naturally. A second method to get oil out of the ground is to use an oil derrick. Oil derricks like nodding donkeys pumps oil out but oil derricks are a bit different. They get oil by first drilling into the ground. Once they are drilled down, concrete covers the hole and a drill makes small holes in the concrete, so theat only a little oil can come out at once. From there oil is pumped up. Oil is not an easy thing to obtain and whether it is worth it or not is still a tough case.**= From [] click here to go back to history page. click here to to the advantages page.