Oil And Its Impact On The Economy

Discuss how rising oil prices might affect the macroeconomic performance of an economy. (25 marks)

Offshore drilling has become an essential part of today’s oil production and demand for energy. With the growth of population comes the increasing demand for oil. The oil industry today, is one of the most used providers of energy. Today in the 20th century the majority of the population in America has a car and cars needs gas to run. The oil reserves in the earth that are easily accessible via land are starting to run dry and are becoming harder to find. This is why we have begun to see more and more offshore oil drills. Although there are benefits of offshore drilling such as profit, lower gas prices, and becoming less dependent on foreign oil. There are also many drawbacks in which if something were to go wrong, the mistake would be catastrophic impacting the environment, the nature, and have trickling effects all around the world.

Oil Drilling has many effects on the environment from the air we breathe to the oceans that inhabit many species. While one of the outcomes of oil drilling is money, it is forgotten that money won’t help repair all of the damage that is done to mother nature. Not only does the outcome of drilling for fossil fuels affect the oceans, rainforest, etc. it also has an effect on local business’ and the health of humans. If people want change, they need to be the

Humans are a poisonous sludge, slowly poisoning ourselves and all other inhabitants. There are many ways we do this, offshore oil drilling being one of them. Offshore oil drilling is the process of drilling into the earth and pulling up petroleum, a natural fuel source made of decomposed organisms. While there are many positive effects, there are too many negative ones for oil drilling to continue. Offshore oil drilling is too dangerous to be considered safe for use in the ecosystem. Not only is it too dangerous, oil rigs are made in an environment many would deem too hazardous for settling any type of structure. Oil drilling kills many people each year and pollutes the marine environment, killing the oceans natural inhabitants.

The United States has been involved in the affairs of the Middle East for decades and they’ve had various reasons for being there, whether it was to wage war or to prevent outside influence that would undermine their own influence in the region, it always seemed to revolve around one thing: oil. As we all know, oil is a very profitable resource and it’s a huge part of many nations’ economies and because this is the case many wars are fought over this black liquid. The U.S. is no different in that they did just about anything to maintain their access to Middle East oil. As a result, United States actions in the Middle East today has been formed through the decades long desire for their oil.

Americans have been drilling for oil for more than half of their existence. Before the 1850’s oil was of little use and had no market for commerce as there was not one overwhelming use for it. Until around the 1850’s, when technology advanced, with it sparking search for one of the most sought after natural resources that countries would later go to war over, petroleum oil. Early inventions like the kerosene lamp provided a new stable home necessity to live by, increasing the demand for crude oil. This would be met in part by Colonel Edwin Drake, who drilled the first successful oil well in 1858. While Drake’s invention for extracting crude oil from the ground would bring about a new era for industrialization, his “black gold” would bring about an even larger effect, the environmental disasters caused by man. For over one hundred and fifty years of drilling for oil, both on shore and offshore, has led to some of the worst catastrophes to both nature and mankind. While many of these catastrophes have led to the deaths of hundreds of crew members, they have also led to long lasting effects on the environment, local and national economies, legislation, regulations, and human morale. These following effects can be seen in the most recent and most contaminated marine oil spill in history. To the media and public it’s known as the British Petroleum offshore drilling oil spill in 2010.

America must wean itself off of dependence on foreign oil, and one valid solution to this problem is offshore oil drilling and production. America’s economy is heavily based on petroleum, as though it is the nation’s blood; a necessity for survival. About 25% of oil produced in the U.S. comes from offshore rigs. Most of the U.S. coastline has been off limits for oil drilling since the early 1980s. Due to environmental concerns after an oil spill off the coast of California in 1969, an offshore drilling moratorium was imposed. Since then, the U.S. has amplified its energy consumption to where it uses nearly 25% of the world's oil. Meanwhile, the U.S. produces about 10% of the world's oil. That has made the U.S. heavily reliant on imported

America has been dependant on oil since the 1800’s and the invention of modern machinery. From skin care products to the gasoline in our cars and engines, petroleum is the basis of almost everything we use for everyday life. Without oil the nation could not meet the energy demands we need to survive. Continued exploration has been the topic of heated debate among supporters and opponents, especially when it comes to offshore drilling. My goal here is to show the differing view points of drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico and present a better understanding from a national perspective. Drilling for our own offshore oil reserves can save the United States billions of dollars.

Environmentalists are one the biggest critics against the notion of increasing domestic oil drilling. By increasing the amount of drilling we do in the United States, we increase the risk of disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Disasters are hardly the only source of economic damage either, to find oil reserves under the ocean, seismic waves are generated into the ground. These waves bounce off the ground back up to the ship, where computers and scientist can use the results to make educated guesses on whether or not oil is located under the surface. These seismic waves can wreak havoc with marine animals like whales; where in one case over 100 whales beached themselves to get away from the painful experience (Nixon). Using seismic waves does not even guarantee that oil might be located underneath the surface, the only way to tell is to actually drill into the potential finds causing even more destruction for what might be for no gain. Once oil is found and drilling has begun, the amount of damage done to the environment can become unimaginable. The recent example is that of the Deepwater

Oil is one of the most important commodities in today’s industrialized world. It is for this reason that the topic of offshore oil drilling has come to take center stage in many debates and discussions, especially the political and economic ones. Offshore oil drilling refers to discoveries and developments of oil or gas resources, which lie under water. For many, offshore oil drilling is a necessity and is needed to balance the power between the oil rich countries and countries that heavily rely on them. For others, the negative of offshore drilling far outweighs the positive.

To start with, it is evident that oil is an essential for the United States which is used as gasoline, heating oil, etc. However, after an explosion damaged the Deepwater Horizon oil rig operated by BP there has been much debate about banning deepwater oil drilling. Bearing in mind that the need for oil is inevitable one must consider the economic costs of banning deepwater oil drilling. First of all, banning oil drilling which may be a leading energy source will affect the economy for years. One must consider that banning oil drilling will result in a great deal of job loss to people already in the industry. According to Dr. Joseph R. Mason, chair of banking at the Ourso School of Business at Louisiana State University, “In the Gulf economies,

Food prices and the prices of other materials will also increase as a result of peak oil, which is another economic impact. This is because all countries rely on imports of food or other materials. For example, more than 80% of the imports to America are goods and industrial equipment ($2.268 trillion) and the smallest import category is food ($115 billion). These rates will be affected due to peak oil because most of these imports are either shipped, or are received by transportation, which runs on oil as a fuel. When peak oil is reached, ships and other methods of transportation would not have enough fuel to run on which therefore results in countries not receiving materials they need. This issue greatly affects low-income countries such

The issue of whether offshore oil drilling is a safe operation or not has been arguing for a long time in the United States. ( SPE International, N.D.) Drilling on water started in early 1930s in Louisiana by shallow-draft barges. Nevertheless, the first oil well on water was drilled in 9th of September, 1947 by Kerr-McGee’s unit Tender Assist Drilling (TAD) in the Gulf of Mexico (SPE International, N.D.). A year after year, oil companies used more and more sophisticated equipment to drill on water, but the number of spilled accidents has been rising since 1964 (Ivanovich, and Hays, 2008). After all, while

Oil is considered as one of the most important chemical substances on earth that have greatly affected our lives. For the past years, countries have been using oil extensively since it has a lot of benefits and many uses. Oil has been used a lot in the past years, whether people were using it for personal uses such as for their cars or transportation companies using it for the sake of their vehicles. There are two types of oil conventional oil and synthetic oil, each type has its different uses. Conventional oil is a mixture of mainly pentanes and heavier hydrocarbons that are extracted from an underground reservoir and liquid at atmospheric pressure and temperature, this allows the oil to flow through a pipeline without processing. Conventional oil can be used for many things, but one of the most important uses is for a vehicle. Synthetic oil is a lubricant made up from chemical compounds which are artificial. Synthetic oil is also used for vehicles. For the past years countries have been using conventional oil extensively and soon the world will have supply shortages of oil which will have many negative effects on our lives. Some of the effects include increased debt defaults, rising interest rates, rising unemployment, disruption of exporting oil, more recession to happen, and drop in market value of bonds.

Another reason for the increase in late 2005 can be given by the strong hurricane season in the US.