# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Oil shale is a fine grained sedimentary rock formed from the compaction and heating of organic rich sediments and containing significant amounts of kerogen. Its name is, in fact, a bit misleading, as the rock itself is not necessarily shale, and the organic matter it contains is not oil.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The natural gas that we use to heat our homes and our water comes from deep under the earth.

The gas is found in layers of rock with tiny holes - the rock holds the gas like a sponge. To bring it to the surface, gas companies drill down hundreds of feet and pump into pipes.

But how did the natural gas get there?

You already know that dinosaurs roamed the earth millions of years ago.

When the dinosaurs and the plants they ate died, the remains were buried under many layers of rock and soil.

Over time, the tremendous heat and pressure created by the layers of earth turned the animal and plant matter into natural gas and petroleum (oil).

That's why natural gas is called a "fossil fuel."

Just like electricity, natural gas has to travel a long way to get to your home. The gas that heats your home or cooks your food might have come from thousands of miles away.

Here's how natural gas gets to your house:

1. Natural gas companies drill thousands of feet into the earth and use big wells and pumps to bring it to the surface.

2. Then they send the gas to your town through gas mains buried underground. Utility companies bring it to your house in smaller pipes.

3. Those pipes connect to the meter outside your house, which measures how much natural gas your family uses.

4. More pipes connect the meter to the gas appliances you use at home, like the furnace, water heater, clothes dryer or stove.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How natural gas is made and delivered to your home

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The natural gas that we use to heat our homes and our water comes from deep under the earth. The gas is found in layers of rock with tiny holes - the rock holds the gas like a sponge. To bring it to the surface, gas companies drill down hundreds of feet and pump into pipes.

# data[].attributes.headline
Natural Gas Prices (Natural Gas is Measured in Therms

# data[].attributes.subject
Natural Gas Prices (Natural Gas is Measured in Therms

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Natural gas is a fossil fuel that is both odorless and colorless in its purest form. The main component is methane, also known as CH4. The price of natural gas is often affected by adverse weather conditions, production increases, increased economic activity, and the availability of substitutes. Natural gas is traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the world's largest commodity futures exchange.

Composed of hydrogen and carbon atoms, natural gas is considered by some to be the cleanest burning fossil fuel. It produces carbon dioxide, water vapor, and nitrogen oxide as a byproduct. Although it was formed millions of years ago, natural gas persists as a widely used source of electricity and fuel today. Henry Hub is the name of a famous natural gas pipeline that runs through Erath, Louisiana. The Henry Hub Pipeline is connected to four domestic pipelines and nine international ones. The pipeline has great influence on the price of natural gas futures.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Natural Gas PRICE Today | Natural Gas Spot Price Chart | Live Price of Natural Gas per Ounce | Markets Insider

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Natural gas is a fossil fuel that is both odorless and colorless in its purest form. The main component is methane, also known as CH4. The price of natural gas is often affected by adverse weather conditions, production increases, increased economic activity, and the availability of substitutes.

# data[].attributes.headline
Advantages and Disadvantages of Natural Gas

# data[].attributes.subject
Advantages and Disadvantages of Natural Gas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Natural Gas and its Uses

Natural gas is mainly composed of methane and a small percentage of other hydrocarbons (e.g. ethane). This simple composition makes natural gas a valuable energy resource and a great asset to the global economy. Its use is becoming more and more popular since it can be used in a variety of sectors (industrial, commercial, residential, electric power generation, transportation, etc.). More specifically:

Industry: It is used to produce a wide range of products such as plastics, paints, and ammonia for fertilizers. The amount of gas consumed in industry is 27% of the total gas consumption (2009 figures*).

Residential use: 21% of the natural gas consumed in the United States is used for powering home appliances.

Electric Power Generation: In the United States alone, almost 30% of natural gas consumption is used to produce electricity.

Commercial use: Commercial buildings consume 14% of the gas in the United States (space heating, water heating, air conditioning, etc.).

Transportation: Natural gas is used to fuel vehicles (cars, trucks, and buses) since it is cleaner and cheaper than gasoline or diesel.

Advantages of Natural Gas Use

Some of the main advantages in using natural gas are listed below:
Economy:

Natural gas is cheaper compared to other fossil fuels and cheaper than electricity when used for supplying home appliances. Natural gas appliances are also cheaper compared to electrical ones.

Environment: It does not pollute the ground or the underground water because its byproducts are in gaseous form. Another important fact is that natural gas burns without releasing any soot or sulfur dioxide. It also emits 45% less carbon dioxide than coal and 30% less than oil.

Transportation: Transportation is made via sea (tankers) and land (pipelines and small tanks). This fact allows natural gas to be easily transferred from power plants to residential areas.

Multi-uses: Natural gas is a multi-use fuel. It is used inside the house for cooking, heating, drying, etc. It can be used for generating electric power, powering vehicles (by substituting for diesel and gasoline), producing plastics, paints, fertilizers, and many more uses.

Availability: It is abundant and almost worldwide available.

Conversion to Hydrogen Fuel: It is currently the cheapest fossil fuel source for producing hydrogen.

Disadvantages of Natural Gas Use

Some of the main disadvantages in using natural gas are listed below:

Flammable and Toxic: Natural gas leaks can be proven to be extremely dangerous. Such leaks may be the cause of fire or explosions. The gas itself is extremely toxic when inhaled. The main risk comes from the fact that it is naturally odorless and cannot be detected by smell, unless an odorant has been added to the gas mixture. In the case of an underground leak, the odorant may gradually become weaker and the gas may go undetected.

Environmental Impact: When natural gas burns, carbon dioxide, monoxide, and other carbon compounds are emitted in the atmosphere contributing to the greenhouse effect. Although it is cleaner than other fossil fuels (oil, coal, etc.) as far as byproducts are concerned, natural gas leaks can become more hazardous since methane is 21 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide.

Processing: In order to use it as a fuel, all constituents other than methane have to be extracted. The processing results in several byproducts: hydrocarbons (ethane, propane, etc.), sulfur, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and even helium and nitrogen.

Non-Renewable: It is a finite source of energy and cannot be considered a long-term solution to our energy supply problem.

Installation: The whole pipe installation may be very expensive to construct since long pipes, specialized tanks, and separate plumbing systems need to be used. Pipe leakage may also be very expensive to detect and fix.

Efficiency in Transportation: When natural gas is used as a fuel in cars, the mileage is lower than gasoline.

Conversion to Hydrogen Fuel: A drawback in producing hydrogen from natural gas is that efficiency drops to almost 50% compared to the original chemical energy.

A Small Conclusion

Despite the disadvantages, it is remarkable that the entire cycle of producing, processing, transporting and using natural gas provides us with a total energy efficiency of almost 90%. It is by far the best choice among the fossil fuel energy sources from all aspects.

Sources:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Advantages and Disadvantages of Natural Gas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The many uses of natural gas have made it an equal alternative to oil and coal. It is becoming more and more popular due to the fact that it is used in many ways, mostly in the industrial, commercial, residential, electric power generation, and transportation sectors.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
WTI Crude prices have recently surged to their highest level in three and a half years-just above $70 a barrel. In theory, that's higher than the average breakeven costs of all key U.S. shale plays. Even $60 WTI is higher than the average breakeven prices, as per the latest quarterly Dallas Fed Energy Survey from March.

Yet, U.S. shale producers are not necessarily raking in huge profits, although Q1 was their best start to a year in three years.

Profits are constrained by pipeline bottlenecks in the Permian, higher costs for drilling services, some bad hedging bets capping part of company sales at below market prices, the huge discount of WTI Midland crude to WTI and Brent due to said bottlenecks amid soaring production, and investment in more drilling activity.

U.S. shale producers face takeaway bottlenecks in the Permian, which is widening the WTI Midland crude discount to WTI Crude. So the prices at which producers sell their oil is not the same as the one we see on the oil price charts.

"Even as falling inventories and geopolitical risks put upward pressure on benchmark crude spot prices, tightening constraints on crude oil transport are increasingly driving a wedge between the Brent global crude benchmark and crude priced in the Permian Basin," the Dallas Fed said in its May 2018 Energy Indicators report.

"The discount between Brent crude and WTI barrels priced in Midland increased from an average of $2 in the first half of 2017 to an average of $5.30 in the second half. Congested takeaway capacity from the Permian has further widened the discount in 2018. That spread averaged $10.77 in April-the largest monthly spread between the two since September 2014."

The EIA also flagged the rapidly widening spread in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook from May 8. Related: U.S. Oil Exports Continue To Break Records

"As production grows beyond the capacity of existing pipeline infrastructure, producers must use more expensive forms of transportation, including rail and trucks. As a result, WTI Midland price spreads widened to the largest discount to Brent since 2014. The WTI Midland differential to Brent settled at -$17.69/b on May 3, which represents a widening of $9.76/b since April 2," the EIA said.

In addition, companies have increased investment in drilling more in the Permian and even in the Bakken, so their positive cash positions have not boomed in lockstep with the rallying WTI oil prices.

Shale companies "are just not generating enough cash to fund all of their investment in new wells," James Williams, energy economist at WTRG Economics, told MarketWatch's Myra Saefon.

"But the cash flows in over time, after you spend the money on drilling the well," Williams noted.

Most of the top 20 U.S. oil firms focused on shale drilling were still spending in Q1 more cash than they were making, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal based on FactSet data. Of those 20 companies, just five generated more cash than they spent in Q1, according to the WSJ analysis.

Then, even if prices are now higher than the average breakevens across the major basins, cost inflation is back with a vengeance, and shale companies expect a double-digit cost jump this year, while there is also a shortage of fracking crews and truck drivers in parts of the Permian.

Moreover, some shale producers have been booking losses from hedging, after they hedged part of their production at $50 and $55 a barrel WTI, which caps part of their gains when prices rally well above that level. Hedging contracts capped at $65 or below are now a drag on company sales instead of the lifeline they were during the oil price slump.

"These companies aren't exposed to the higher prices because many of them hedged their oil production at $50 per barrel," Matt Badiali, senior research analyst at Banyan Hill, told MarketWatch.

Rallying oil prices surely help U.S. producers, but they still have work to do to turn the higher prices (assuming they are sustainable) into higher profits.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Is $70 Oil Enough For Shale Drillers? | OilPrice.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
WTI Crude prices have recently surged to their highest level in three and a half years-just above $70 a barrel. In theory, that's higher than the average breakeven costs of all key U.S. shale plays. Even $60 WTI is higher than the average breakeven prices, as per the latest quarterly Dallas Fed Energy Survey from March.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This comprehensive overview details the potential environmental impacts of natural gas use and extraction, including its effects on water supplies, global warming emissions, air pollution, and wildlife.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Blog

Oil and gas drilling is a dirty business

Oil and gas drilling has serious consequences for our wildlands and communities. Drilling projects operate around the clock, disrupting wildlife, water sources, human health, recreation and other aspects of public lands that were set aside and held in trust for the American people.

The Trump administration's reckless policies put drilling above all else on public lands. The oil and gas industry is encroaching upon too many of our nation's unspoiled wildlands. And the consequences could be devastating for the environment and local communities.

1. Drilling disrupts wildlife habitat

Oil and gas extraction is a menace to wildlife. Loud noises, human movement and vehicle traffic from drilling operations can disrupt avian species' communication, breeding and nesting. The infrastructure built for energy development can also get in the way. Powerlines, wellpads, fences, and roads fragment habitats for many species.

The pronghorn antelope and mule deer in Wyoming are among the species most impacted. In the winter, some pronghorn travel south from the Grand Teton National Park to the Upper Green River Valley to escape heavy snow. Their journey is one of the longest big game migrations in the U.S.

But recently, animals making this age-old trek have faced a series of obstacles, notably, intense activity in major natural gas fields. The pronghorn have to navigate past enormous wellpads and noisy compressor stations to find what forage hasn't been bulldozed. Future energy development farther south could ultimately have major impacts on the abundance of this herd.

2. Oil spills can be deadly to animals

Big oil spills are known killers of wildlife. Just think back to the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The resulting spill covered 68,000 square miles of sea surface and killed approximately 1 million coastal and offshore seabirds, 5,000 marine mammals and 1,000 sea turtles.

Smaller spills, including of other substances in the oil extraction process, don't always make the headlines but can also be dangerous. During oil extraction on land, drilling fluids are injected into the well for lubrication. These oil-based fluids known as "mud" are supposed to be captured in lined pits for disposal, but they're often spilled and splashed around the drilling site.

Big and small, oil spills have been steadily increasing in the West's top producing states. A recent report by the Center for Western Priorities found that 2,834 oil spills were reported by oil and gas companies in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming in 2018 - a record number since the organization started to collect this data in 2015.

These spills can have long-term environmental impacts and devastating effects on animals through direct contact, inhalation and ingestion of toxic chemicals. Oil and chemical spills can

* Damage animals' liver, kidney, spleen, brain or other organs
* Cause cancer, immune system suppression and reproductive failure
* Trigger long-term ecological changes by damaging animals' nesting or breeding grounds

In spite of these risks, the federal government is attempting to quietly open several marine sanctuaries and wilderness lands to drilling. One of the most shocking plans would hand over 19 million acres of untouched wilderness in Alaska's Arctic Refuge to oil and gas companies. The disastrous move would expose fragile wildlife and tundra to oil spills.

3. Air and water pollution hurt local communities

There are 1.3 million oil and gas facilities across the U.S. - from active production wells to processing plants. More than 12 million people live within 1/2 mile of these facilities, and many are exposed to air and water pollution on a daily basis, which can lead to an array of health issues. The most affected are people of color, who typically live in neighborhoods with more pollution.

Oil and gas production are among the main culprits of air pollution - one of the world's biggest killers according to the United Nations. When fossil fuels are burned by power plants, automobiles and industrial facilities, they generate toxic gases. Breathing this air can trigger respiratory problems such as asthma, cardiovascular diseases, developmental issues and even cancer.

The health risks from oil and gas extraction are not limited to air pollution. The drilling method of "fracking" is known for contaminating drinking water sources with chemicals that lead to cancer, birth defects and liver damage. The controversial method injects a mixture of water and chemicals into rock formations to release oil and gas. As a result, it generates huge volumes of wastewater with dangerous chemicals that can leak to ponds, lagoons and underground aquifers.

Although the health threats from oil and gas production are very real, the federal government continues to push for fossil fuel drilling near communities. The city of Bakersfield, in California, is a sad example of that trend. The Trump administration is pushing to open up more than one million acres of land to drilling and fracking in the region. The move would directly impact Latino communities.

4. Dangerous emissions contribute to climate change

Since the industrial revolution, humans have been burning more and more fossil fuels, releasing more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These emissions have been trapping unwanted solar heat and causing the planet's temperatures to rise. The consequences are all around us in the form of longer wildfire seasons, stronger hurricanes and harsher heatwaves.

Most dirty emissions originate from fossil fuels. The most abundant type of greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide, primarily released into the air through the burning of oil, coal and gas that fuel everything from cars to manufacturing. Another gas, methane, is released during the extraction of natural gas through the method of "fracking."

The U.S. is one of the world's top emitters, and yet the Trump administration has done little to tackle the problem. And there's a lot that could be done right here in our back yard. Currently, 24 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, including methane, can be traced to fossil fuel extracted from federal lands.

The federal government should rethink its practice of leasing public lands to the fossil fuel industry. They should also regulate leaks and deliberate discharge of methane on our wild lands. Ultimately, the goal should be to install renewable energy projects at appropriate "low-impact" sites on public lands to accelerate the country's transition from dirty to clean energy.

5. Oil and gas development ruins pristine landscapes

Infrastructure built for oil and gas extraction can leave behind radical impacts on the land. The construction of roads, facilities and drilling sites known as well pads requires the use of heavy equipment and can destroy big chunks of pristine wilderness. The damage is often irreversible.

A University of Montana study found that between 2000 and 2012, fossil fuel infrastructure occupied about 3 million hectares of land in the country - the equivalent of three Yellowstone National Parks. Those developments removed large amounts of rangelands and vegetation that is used by wildlife and people.

The study's researchers warned that even if oil and gas companies eventually abandon these sites, it can take centuries before the land fully recovers. The problem is that most fossil fuel development is located in semi-arid climate that receives little precipitation. A full recovery would require human intervention and a bundle of resources.

Development of oil and gas complexes can cause serious and long-term damage to land, including

* Stripping the environment of vegetation
* Increasing erosion, which can lead to landslides and flooding
* Disturbing the land's ground surface
* Seriously fragmenting unspoiled wildlife habitats

6. Fossil fuel extraction turns visitors away

Hunters, anglers, hikers, birders and vacationing families go into the wilderness to experience nature in all its beauty. Oil tanks, power poles, noisy compressors and busy roads are not what they expect to see. Too much noise near a good fishing hole, a population of wildlife or a formerly peaceful landscape can ruin anyone's nature getaway.

The unsightly effects of oil and gas can degrade visitors' experience on public lands and ultimately hurt local communities that depend on tourism. Outdoor recreation is a big driver of local and national economies. In 2018, visitors to national parks spent an estimated $20.2 billion on their trips and supported 329,000 jobs, according to the National Park Service.

But under Trump, polluters are getting to call the shots on public lands, ushering in a new era of unbridled energy development on wildlands that deserve preservation.

7. Light pollution is impacting wildlife and wilderness

The glare from oil and gas sites is so strong that it's even visible from space. Photos of Earth taken by NASA satellites show North Dakota's Bakken oil fields burning almost as bright as cities like Minneapolis and Chicago. Much of that light is produced by the burning - or flaring - of natural gas, well pads and storage sites.

Scientists have found that the bright glow hurts pollinators such as bees. These insects have a very important job of moving pollen around to generates new fruits and plants. But luminosity disrupts their sleep, feeding and reproductive cycles, leading to the dwindling of plants such as the cabbage thistle.

The brightness is also changing uniquely beautiful landscapes like the Chaco National Park. The park's pristine skies could disappear to the human eye due to the glare coming from nearby oil and gas complexes. The park is known for being one of the best places in the world to stargaze, but the show could come to an end if the federal government doesn't permanently protect the surrounding area from this development.

Much of America's oil and gas comes from public lands, which is why The Wilderness Society continues to fight against drilling in our nation's wildest places. Check out some last remaining wild places that are just Too Wild to Drill.

For joining the movement to save our lands.

We were unable to process your request. Please try again.

Join the movement to save our wildlands

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
7 ways oil and gas drilling is bad for the environment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Blog Oil and gas drilling has serious consequences for our wildlands and communities. Drilling projects operate around the clock, disrupting wildlife, water sources, human health, recreation and other aspects of public lands that were set aside and held in trust for the American people.

# data[].attributes.headline
How much Natural Gas is Left in the World

# data[].attributes.subject
How much Natural Gas is Left in the World

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Skip to sub-navigation

Sorry, the page or file you were looking for could not be found.

You may have followed a bad external link, or mistyped a URL.

We have recently redesigned our website to make it easier and faster for you to find the information you need.
This means the bookmarks and addresses you have used in the past may no longer work.

If you got this page from a link within eia.gov or if the problem persists, please report the error to our webmaster.

You can also try the EIA site search below.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Skip to sub-navigation You may have followed a bad external link, or mistyped a URL. We have recently redesigned our website to make it easier and faster for you to find the information you need.This means the bookmarks and addresses you have used in the past may no longer work.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Current West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil (WTI) Prices

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Union Pacific is the largest railroad in North America, covering 23 states across the western two-thirds of the United States

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Current West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil (WTI) Prices

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Union Pacific is the largest railroad in North America, covering 23 states across the western two-thirds of the United States

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Fun Kids - the UK's children's radio station

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What is crude oil? How does crude oil generate electricity? Is crude oil a fossil fuel or a renewable?

Here's the need-to-know stuff about the energy source, crude oil!

Description

Crude oil is a dark liquid. It is found in reservoirs deep under the ground.

How was it formed?

Millions of years ago the world's oceans were filled with plants and plankton. When these died they fell to the bottom of the seas. Over millions of years, these remains were buried under layers of sand and mud. Heat and pressure turned the remains into oil and natural gas.

Where do you find crude oil?

Oil reserves can be found all over the world, including the North Sea, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United States, Iran, Iraq and China.

How is it made into electricity?

The oil is burned to heat water and produce steam. This steam propels the blades of a turbine. This is attached to a generator, which produces electricity.

What are the advantages of using crude oil?

Oil can easily be transported by a network of pipelines.

Oil-fired power stations can, in theory, be built almost anywhere.

What are the disadvantages of using crude oil?

Oil is a non-renewable source of energy. This means that one day we will probably run out of crude oil.

Burning oil produces carbon dioxide gas. This is a greenhouse gas that contributes towards climate change.

Burning oil can pollute the air.

Much of our oil has to be imported and it is becoming more and more expensive as reserves reduce and imports increase.

Producing electricity from crude oil is expensive compared to other fossil fuels such as coal or gas.

Click here for more energy facts!

We've got a whole series about energy, electricity, and power generation! It's called Curious Kate, and you can listen to it below!

EXPLORE THIS SERIES

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Crude Oil: Energy Source Fact File! - Fun Kids - the UK's children's radio station

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What is crude oil? How does crude oil generate electricity? Is crude oil a fossil fuel or a renewable? Here's the need-to-know stuff about the energy source, crude oil! Crude oil is a dark liquid. It is found in reservoirs deep under the ground.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Products from oil (petroleum products) help us do many things. We use them to fuel our airplanes, cars, and trucks, to heat our homes, and to make products like medicines and plastics. Even though petroleum products make life easier - finding, producing, moving, and using them can harm the environment through air and water pollution.

Emissions and Byproducts Are Produced from Burning Petroleum Products

Petroleum products give off the following emissions when they are burned as fuel:

Nitrogen oxides (NOX) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)

Lead and various air toxics such as benzene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and 1,3-butadiene may be emitted when some types of petroleum are burned

Nearly all of these byproducts have negative impacts on the environment and human health:

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and a source of global warming.1

SO2 causes acid rain, which is harmful to plants and to animals that live in water, and it worsens or causes respiratory illnesses and heart diseases, particularly in children and the elderly.

NOX and VOCs contribute to ground-level ozone, which irritates and damages the lungs.

PM results in hazy conditions in cities and scenic areas, and, along with ozone, contributes to asthma and chronic bronchitis, especially in children and the elderly. Very small, or "fine PM" is also thought to cause emphysema and lung cancer.

Lead can have severe health impacts, especially for children, and air toxics are known or probable carcinogens.

Laws Help Reduce Pollution from Oil

Over the years, new technologies and laws have helped to reduce problems related to petroleum products. As with any industry, the Government monitors how oil is produced, refined, stored, and sent to market to reduce the impact on the environment. Since 1990, fuels like gasoline and diesel fuel have also been improved so that they produce less pollution when we use them.

Because a lot of air pollution comes from cars and trucks, many environmental laws have been aimed at changing the make-up of gasoline and diesel fuel so that they produce fewer emissions. These "reformulated fuels" are much cleaner-burning than gasoline and diesel fuel were in 1990.

Technology Helps Reduce Drilling's "Footprint"

Exploring and drilling for oil may disturb land and ocean habitats. New technologies have greatly reduced the number and size of areas disturbed by drilling, sometimes called "footprints."2 Satellites, global positioning systems, remote sensing devices, and 3-D and 4-D seismic technologies make it possible to discover oil reserves while drilling fewer wells.

The use of horizontal and directional drilling makes it possible for a single well to produce oil from a much bigger area. Today's production footprints are also smaller those 30 years ago because of the development of movable drilling rigs and smaller "slimhole" drilling rigs.

When the oil in a well becomes uneconomic to produce, the well must be plugged below ground, making it hard to tell that it was ever there. As part of the "rigs-to-reefs" program, some old offshore rigs are tipped over and left on the sea floor to become artificial reefs that attract fish and other marine life. Within six months to a year after a rig is toppled, it becomes covered with barnacles, coral, sponges, clams, and other sea creatures.

Eight Percent of the Oil in the Sea Comes from Tank Vessel Spills

If oil is spilled into rivers or oceans, it can harm wildlife. When we talk about "oil spills," people usually think about oil that leaks from a ship that is involved in an accident. Although this type of spill can cause the biggest shock to wildlife because so much oil is released at one time, a study by the National Research Council says only 8% of all oil in the sea comes from ship or barge spills.3 The amount of oil spilled from ships dropped significantly during the 1990s partly because new ships were required to have a "double-hull" lining to protect against spills.

The Greatest Share of Oil in the Sea Comes from Natural Seeps

While oil spills from ships are the most well-known source of oil in ocean water, more oil actually gets into water from natural oil seeps coming from the ocean floor.

Leaks also happen when we use petroleum products on land. For example, gasoline sometimes drips onto the ground when people are filling their gas tanks, when motor oil gets thrown away after an oil change, or when fuel escapes from a leaky storage tank. When it rains, the spilled products get washed into the gutter and eventually flow to rivers and into the ocean. Another way that oil sometimes gets into water is when fuel is leaked from motorboats and jet skis.

When a leak in a storage tank or pipeline occurs, petroleum products can also get into the ground, and the ground must be cleaned up. To prevent leaks from underground storage tanks, all buried tanks are supposed to be replaced by tanks with a double lining.

1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Change State of Knowledge .
2. U.S. Department of Energy, Environmental Benefits of Advanced Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Technology (October 1999).
3. National Academies Press, Oil in the Sea III, Chapter 3 (2002).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Products from oil (petroleum products) help us do many things. We use them to fuel our airplanes, cars, and trucks, to heat our homes, and to make products like medicines and plastics. Even though petroleum products make life easier - finding, producing, moving, and using them can harm the environment through air and water pollution.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Skip to sub-navigation

Source: With permission, S&P Global
Note: Prompt quarter delivery coal prices by each region are shown above. The prompt quarter is the quarter that follows the current quarter. For example, the second quarter is the prompt quarter of a period from January to the end of March. In the row headings, the Btu values represent heat content per pound of coal, and the SO2 values reflect pounds of SO2 per MMBtu. Because the historical spot price data are proprietary, they cannot be released by EIA; see S&P Global. S&P Global.

Source: With permission, S&P Global
Note: Prompt quarter delivery coal prices by each region are shown above. The prompt quarter is the quarter that follows the current quarter. For example, the second quarter is the prompt quarter of a period from January to the end of March. In the row headings, the Btu values represent heat content per pound of coal, and the SO2 values reflect their percentage of total coal weight. Because the historical spot price data are proprietary, they cannot be released by EIA; see S&P Global. S&P Global.

&nbsp

About the Coal Markets Report

The Coal Markets Report summarizes average weekly coal commodity spot prices by coal regions in the United States. The historical data for coal commodity spot market prices are proprietary and not available for public release.

EIA no longer publishes NYMEX coal future prices, and all historical data are no longer available. You can find more information about NYMEX futures prices from the CME Group.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Skip to sub-navigation Source: With permission, S&P Global Note: Prompt quarter delivery coal prices by each region are shown above. The prompt quarter is the quarter that follows the current quarter. For example, the second quarter is the prompt quarter of a period from January to the end of March.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Coal - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Coal - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Click here for a printable version
Objective: Students will read about how burning coal affects the environment.

Materials: No materials necessary.

Background Information-- How does burning coal affect the environment?

Coal is a chemically complex fuel. Whenever it is burned, gases are given off and particles of ash, called "fly ash," are released. The sulfur in coal combines with oxygen to form sulfur dioxide, which can be a major source of air pollution if emitted in large enough quantities.

Today, many of the effects of coal burning have been reduced significantly or eliminated. Three basic methods are used to reduce the quantity of pollutants resulting from coal combustion.

The first, a pre-combustion method for removing contaminates from coal, is coal cleaning or "coal benefication." In coal cleaning the coal is crushed and screened from impurities. Further processing utilizes the different gravities of coal and impurities to separate them in a liquid medium. Coal cleaning can remove the pyritic sulfur, which can reduce sulfur content by as much as 30 percent.

The second, a post-combustion method, uses flue gas desulfurization systems, commonly called scrubbers. According to the Electric Power Research Institute, scrubbers can remove more than 90 percent of the sulfur dioxide emissions from coal combustion. The flue gas is sprayed with a slurry made up of water and an alkaline agent-- usually lime or limestone. The sulfur dioxide reacts chemically, forming calcium sulfate or calcium sulfite. This is removed and disposed of as a wet sludge. There are currently 134 scrubbers operated by the electric utility industry in the United States.

The final method for reducing or eliminating pollution from coal combustion is the use of electrostatic precipitators or baghouses which are used to remove fly ash. In electrostatic precipitators, the particulate matter is given an electrical charge. The charge attracts it to a collector plate, where the particles are collected, preventing their discharge into the atmosphere. In a baghouse, the particulate matter is filtered out as it passes through a series of filters, similar to a household vacuum cleaner.

The two major environmental concerns today dealing with the use of coal are: increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and acid rain. Much remains to be learned about the relationship between fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) and the environment. It is believed that combustion has partially contributed to the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels may result in warmer climates due to the "greenhouse effect." The increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide prevents heat from escaping from the earth, thus warming the atmosphere.

The combustion of coal also appears to contribute to acid rain, although precise measures of the scope and seriousness of acid rain are not clear or well understood. What is clear is that further study of the phenomenon is necessary.

There is an interesting riddle to the acid rain phenomenon, and that is that acid rain damage has occurred during periods when sulfur dioxide discharges have declined or remained stable (sulfur dioxide is considered to be the principal cause of acid rain).

Provided by National Energy Foundation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Click here for a printable version Objective: Students will read about how burning coal affects the environment. Materials: No materials necessary. Coal is a chemically complex fuel. Whenever it is burned, gases are given off and particles of ash, called "fly ash," are released.

# data[].attributes.body
Scroll down for a great visual that shows which continents house coal.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Coal is a combustible, sedimentary, organic rock, which is composed mainly of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. It's found in almost every country worldwide.

How is coal formed?

Coal is a fossil fuel, formed from vegetation, which has been consolidated between other rock strata and altered by the combined effects of pressure and heat over millions of years to form coal seams. The energy we get from coal today comes from the energy that plants absorbed from the sun millions of years ago.

Types of coal

There are four types of coal; lignite, sub-bituminous, bituminous and anthracite, which are created during a process known as 'coalification'.

Coalification means the degree of change undergone by coal as it matures from peat to anthracite. This has an important bearing on coal's physical and chemical properties and is referred to as the 'rank' of the coal. Ranking is determined by the degree of transformation of the original plant material to carbon.

The quality of each coal deposit is determined by:

Types of vegetation from which the coal originated

Depths of burial

Temperatures and pressures at those depths

Length of time the coal has been forming in the deposit

In addition to carbon, coal contains hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and varying amounts of sulphur.

High-rank coals are high in carbon and therefore heat value, but low in hydrogen and oxygen.

Low-rank coals are low in carbon but high in hydrogen and oxygen content.

Where is coal found

Coal is abundant - there's over 1.06 trillion tonnes of proven coal reserves worldwide.

This means that at current rates of production, there is enough coal to last us around 132 years. The biggest reserves are in the USA, Russia, China, Australia and India.

After centuries of exploration, the location, size and characteristics of most countries' coal resources are quite well known. What tends to vary much more than the assessed level of the resource - i.e. the potentially accessible coal in the ground - is the level classified as proved recoverable reserves.

Reserves can be extended further through improved exploration activities and advances in mining techniques - allowing previously inaccessible reserves to be reached.

The amount of coal that may be present in a deposit or coal field

Reserves can be defined in terms of proved (or measured) reserves and probable (or indicated) reserves

Reserves that are not only considered to be recoverable but can also be recovered economically

How is coal found?

Coal reserves are discovered through exploration activities. The process usually involves creating a geological map of the area, then carrying out geochemical and geophysical surveys, followed by exploration drilling. This allows for an accurate picture of the area to be developed. The area will only ever become a mine if it is large enough and of sufficient quality that the coal can be economically recovered. Once this has been confirmed, mining operations begin.

As coal reserves are found across the globe, the largest coal producing regions are not confined to one region - the top five hard coal producers are China, India, USA, Indonesia and Australia. Most coal production is actually used in the country in which it was produced.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is coal & where is it found? - World Coal Association

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Data Highlights

up$3.48 from week earlier
down$16.95 from year earlier

down$0.385 from week earlier
up$0.070 from year earlier

down$0.016 from week earlier
down$0.519 from year earlier

up$0.011 from week earlier
down$-0.69 from year earlier

10/31/2020: 10.363 million tons

up0.187 million tons from week earlier
down2.308 million tons from year earlier

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Homepage - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
up$3.48 from week earlier down$16.95 from year earlier down$0.385 from week earlier up$0.070 from year earlier down$0.016 from week earlier down$0.519 from year earlier up$0.011 from week earlier down$-0.69 from year earlier 10/31/2020: 10.363 million tons up0.187 million tons from week earlier down2.308 million tons from year earlier

# data[].attributes.body
Deep Water Horizon

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also called Gulf of Mexico oil spill, largest marine oil spill in history, caused by an April 20, 2010, explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig-located in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 41 miles (66 km) off the coast of Louisiana -and its subsequent sinking on April 22.

Deepwater Horizon oil spill: debris and oil U.S. Coast Guard

The explosion

The Deepwater Horizon rig, owned and operated by offshore-oil-drilling company Transocean and leased by oil company BP, was situated in the Macondo oil prospect in the Mississippi Canyon, a valley in the continental shelf. The oil well over which it was positioned was located on the seabed 4,993 feet (1,522 metres) below the surface and extended approximately 18,000 feet (5,486 metres) into the rock. On the night of April 20 a surge of natural gas blasted through a concrete core recently installed by contractor Halliburton in order to seal the well for later use. It later emerged through documents released by Wikileaks that a similar incident had occurred on a BP-owned rig in the Caspian Sea in September 2008. Both cores were likely too weak to withstand the pressure because they were composed of a concrete mixture that used nitrogen gas to accelerate curing.

Once released by the fracture of the core, the natural gas traveled up the Deepwater rig's riser to the platform, where it ignited, killing 11 workers and injuring 17. The rig capsized and sank on the morning of April 22, rupturing the riser, through which drilling mud had been injected in order to counteract the upward pressure of oil and natural gas. Without any opposing force, oil began to discharge into the gulf. The volume of oil escaping the damaged well-originally estimated by BP to be about 1,000 barrels per day-was thought by U.S. government officials to have peaked at more than 60,000 barrels per day.

Leaking oil

Although BP attempted to activate the rig's blowout preventer (BOP), a fail-safe mechanism designed to close the channel through which oil was drawn, the device malfunctioned. Forensic analysis of the BOP completed the following year determined that a set of massive blades known as blind shear rams-designed to slice through the pipe carrying oil-had malfunctioned because the pipe had bent under the pressure of the rising gas and oil. (A 2014 report by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board claimed that the blind shear rams had activated sooner than previously thought and may have actually punctured the pipe.)

Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010: path of the oil Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Subscribe today

Efforts in May to place a containment dome over the largest leak in the broken riser were thwarted by the buoyant action of gas hydrates-gas molecules in an ice matrix-formed by the reaction of natural gas and cold water. When an attempt to employ a "top kill," whereby drilling mud was pumped into the well to stanch the flow of oil, also failed, BP in early June turned to an apparatus called the Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP) cap. With the damaged riser shorn from the LMRP-the top segment of the BOP-the cap was lowered into place. Though fitted loosely over the BOP and allowing some oil to escape, the cap enabled BP to siphon approximately 15,000 barrels of oil per day to a tanker. The addition of an ancillary collection system comprising several devices, also tapped into the BOP, increased the collection rate to approximately 25,000 barrels of oil a day.

In early July the LMRP cap was removed for several days so that a more permanent seal could be installed; this capping stack was in place by July 12. Though the leak had slowed, it was estimated by a government-commissioned panel of scientists that 4,900,000 barrels of oil had already leaked into the gulf. Only about 800,000 barrels had been captured. On August 3 BP conducted a "static kill," a procedure in which drilling mud was pumped into the well through the BOP. Though similar to the failed top kill, mud could be injected at much lower pressures during the static kill because of the stabilizing influence of the capping stack. The defective BOP and the capping stack were removed in early September and replaced by a functioning BOP.

The success of these procedures cleared the way for a "bottom kill," considered to be the most likely means of permanently sealing the leak. This entailed pumping cement through a channel-known as a relief well-that paralleled and eventually intersected the original well. Construction of two such wells had begun in May. On September 17 the bottom kill maneuver was successfully executed through the first relief well. The second had been intended to serve as a backup and was not completed. Two days later, following a series of pressure tests, it was announced that the well was completely sealed.

Claims by several research groups that subsurface plumes of dispersed hydrocarbons had been detected in May were initially dismissed by BP and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). However, it was verified in June that the plumes were in fact from the Deepwater spill. The effect of the microscopic oil droplets on the ecosystem was unknown, though their presence, along with that of a layer of oil several inches thick discovered on portions of the seafloor in September, cast doubt on earlier predictions about the speed with which the discharged oil would dissipate. Bacteria that had adapted to consuming naturally occurring gas and oil seeping from the seabed were thought to have consumed a portion of it.

Deepwater Horizon oil spill

date

April 20, 2010 - September 19, 2010

location

causes

An explosion that capsized the Deepwater Horizon oil rig

outcomes

Payment by oil company BP of $65 billion in compensation to people impacted by the spill

11 workers killed and 17 injured by the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig

About 1,300 miles (2,100 km) of the U.S. Gulf Coast covered in oil

Massive harm done to wildlife in and around the Gulf of Mexico, including the deaths of an estimated 800,000 birds and 65,000 turtles

Release of an estimated 134 million to 206 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico

context

key people

related topics

did you know?

As much as 20 percent of the oil spilled may have sunk to the bottom of the ocean, damaging deep-sea ecosystems.

In the process of reaching a settlement with BP, the largest natural-resource damage assessment ever was undertaken.

The 3.19 million barrels found by the courts to have leaked during the spill is equal to over 130 million gallons.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Deepwater Horizon oil spill | Summary & Facts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Deepwater Horizon oil spill, largest marine oil spill in history, caused by an April 20, 2010, explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig-located in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 41 miles (66 km) off the coast of Louisiana-and its subsequent sinking on April 22.