What are some effects from oil drilling?

what are some cons on oil drilling? can anyone help me out please. this is for a debate on school and im assigned for agaisnt oil drilling, please can someone help me out?What are some effects from oil drilling?
This is trickier than it looks. You see, there are many environmentalists who will immediately jump on their soapboxes and say that the oil companies are polluting the planet with their product etc etc. This is too simple an argument and I would urge you to avoid it.





To say that oil drilling pollutes the world is like saying growing crops makes people fat. Ultimately both statements are true but we don't blame farmers for the current obesity problems so why should we blame oil drilling for world pollution?





What really happens is that the oil companies satisfy a world demand for oil and it is the end-user (us) who does the polluting. The huge growth in demand for energy from China and India means that more oil is needed and ultimately more pollution will result.





So, let's try and put the big environmental con to one side and look at the smaller environmental con which is directly related to drilling for oil:





Drilling for oil uses an oil rig or platform, the carbon footprint for which will be relatively small. Certainly smaller than a modern concrete skyscraper and more like running a marine vessel like a cargo ship. The drilling rig will burn about 15 tonnes of diesel a day to keep working and it will rely on boats and helicopters to supply it which also burn fuel.





Drilling for oil is a complex process involving many people with different skills. It is very expensive and can be hazardous due to the harsh environments in which oil is presently being explored for - think North Sea in a storm - like tonight (08 Nov) when a real biggy is about to blow through.





Before drilling takes place, in order to find a potential prospect, geophysicists from the oil companies charter seismic vessels to assess an area. This has the potential to harm sealife with loud noises being generated to obtain the seismic data they need. However, this work is tightly regulated and the authorities try to ensure that such work is not carried out in places where whales and dolphins are likely to be, so the risk of harming them is reduced. It remains a risk nevertheless.





Having got your prospect, the drilling unit comes in. For offshore work, this unit may drag anchors across the seabed, potentially scarring the seabed and any reef or other organisms living there. Again, the area is surveyed before putting the rig there to assess any potential harm and surveyed afterwards to measure any actual damage done.





Once drilling starts, various chemicals are used to keep the well open. There is always a risk of spillage and potential harm to the environment, but generally procedures are in place to keep these risks as low as possible. Chemical usage is monitored and measured against various categories, including how damaging they may be to the environment. Discharge levels are set by the environmental agency and companies are fined if they exceed those limits.





If the drilling is successful, and oil (or gas) is found, then at some point the well will produce oil back to surface. Again, the potential for a spill to the sea exists. There may be a catastrophic failure like on Piper Alpha 18 years ago which would result in severe pollution - but realistically, the chances of such failure are low.





That raises another issue - the safety side of things. In the North Sea, oil workers are working in a harsh environment with heavy machinery all around them. There is always the potential for someone to get hurt or killed. Statistically, the UK oil industry is very safe - far safer than the construction industry, but it is a high profile industry and any accidents always grab the attention of the newsmen. Also, because the equipment really is quite large, any accidents involving such equipment tend to be fatal.





I know there's not too much raving anti-oil drilling stuff here, but I hope some of it helps. I do work in the industry and you may think that might bias my opinion. It doesn't, but that would be understandable. The UK drilling industry is very closely regulated for all the reasons stated above and continually tries to find new oil while not harming people or the environment.





As oil becomes harder to find, we will look in other areas of the world which currently have protected status - like Alaska, the Antarctic and places like that. You could bring that into your discussion as there would definitely be changes to those environments if it happens, which may harm the wildlife in those areas.





One thought you may consider is what would happen if we didn't drill for oil. The answer is that we would fairly rapidly use up our present reserves, the price of whatever oil is left would rocket, poorer nations would starve and the lights would go out all over the world. It really is that simple. Until an alternate viable source of energy is found, we must continue to drill.





Good luck with the debate. As I said earlier, focus on the local issues around actual drilling rather than the environmental hype which really isn't valid.





OK - just saw your note. It's a bit of a stretcher, but one additional downside you could use would be that statistically, only one in 10 exploration wells successfully find commercially viable oil or gas deposits - which is quite a lot of wasted time and money on the other 9. It is of course, all relative. Having found a viable prospect, every well drilled in the same field thereafter will be successful - the 1 in 10 thing goes away. Also, it is obvious that the oil companies believe it to be worth spending the cash given those odds. You have to speculate to accumulate.





Good luck.What are some effects from oil drilling?
We get to:





drive our cars


warm and cool our homes


wear comfortable clothing in many colors


enjoy the products produced by manufacturers everywhere


fly all over the world


enjoy Mediterranean and Caribbean cruises


have the use of insecticides, cleaners, detergents, and


everything else that comes from the petrochemical industry


And watch our retirement portfolios grow as Exxon rakes in mountains of cash....








since you're supposed to be against drilling, you can say that


we were better off living in the dark and the cold


that without oil, we couldn't grow as much food as we do and over half the people in the world would starve to death (another good thing according to some people)


We wouldn't have automobiles, planes, tanks, mobile armies, much of our electricity....It would be just like living in 1800, and we liked it then...didn't we??