Oil oligopolies Shell and BP have a new plan to get more of the lovely black gold that we all need to get around – to extract it from new sources. Unfortunately, these new sources could apparently lead to catastrophic climate change.
The new sources include tar sands and oil shale – formerly problematic to produce oil from, but now seen as an easier option than having to create massive rigs that can channel down many miles to sea beds. The issue remains of course the turmoil seen in the Middle East, as well as the continuing price rises that we’ve all suffered recently. This alternative source would give an opportunity to Canada and the US to have their own sources.
Unfortunately, to use these sources, the refining process can put out more than eight times the pollutants of ‘standard’ oil production, according to a report by the WWF and Co-operative Financial Services. However, in line with current trends, both Shell and BP are showing moves to significant investment to non-standard production.
This, in my mind, is sensible. However, it highlights exactly how separate the objectives of money and the environment can be. What would happen if the companies invested all their cash into really alternative products to move the nation? Well, we’ll never know. Why would they bother when they are making record profits? It’s bad business sense, even if it is good the world.
The estimation of 1.1 trillion barrels of oil being recoverable in the US and Canada seems quite high – it’s almost enough to get me hoping for prices to return to a £1.10 or less per litre cost. But at what cost to the planet would this be when it could release 980 billion tonnes of CO2? Some argue that this would push the planet well into dangerous climate levels.
What do I make of it all? Well, there’s going to be a trade-off at some point. Either the government will say this process is acceptable (I think this is likely, even if Obama is in power) or they’ll say it isn’t. If it’s true that the suggested amount of CO2 will be released, we’d better be prepared for all of the many predictions we’ve been hearing about for a while – more unpredictable weather, further melting of the polar ice caps, more extreme typhoons etc.
Climate change, whether we like it or not, is a fact. If even Clarkson can I agree it then I probably should too. Are fuel prices too high though? Oh yes, very much so. For my mind, with nations such as China and India wanting more cars, these are set to rise. What will we do? Well, it may be damaging in the long run but perhaps ‘unconventional’ oil sources are our only option.
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