The 29th of September is set aside for the celebration of World Oil Day, a date that was set to highlight the importance and centrality of this natural resource for global society in terms of rethinking and reflecting on their ways of exploration and use.
O Petroleum it is a non-renewable natural resource, that is, over time, it may be depleted. In fact, oil is even capable of being naturally renewed, but not in a timely manner for human use, since its process of formation takes place over thousands of years and only happens from specific conditions during the constitution of the basins. sedimentary
Because of this, Petroleum is recognized as a strategic resource, that is, its exploration and domain can represent a key point in the development of a region or country, given that most means of transport depend on its derivatives, such as gasoline, diesel and others. In addition to these fuels, petroleum is also used in the production of plastic and some specific types of industrial solvents and lubricants.
This resource has such a strategic character that, in the 1970s, it was the pivot of an important economic crisis, the “oil crisis”. First, in 1973, the recently-founded Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to raise the price of the product in light of the discovery that it was a finite natural resource. In 1979, there was the second oil shock, this time with a reprisal from the countries of the Middle East – the main producers - given the support of Western countries to Israel in the so-called Yom War Kippur.
With the successive hikes, the impact on the economy was severely felt due to the high inflation generated in several products, mainly in those that depended heavily on the means of transport.
Another important aspect that also has a wide insertion in the question of Petroleum is the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere through the burning of fuels derived from this resource. These pollutants, notably CO2, can provide a series of climatic effects, of which the most cited are the intensification of the greenhouse effect and the acceleration of global warming.
Chemically speaking, oil is a hydrocarbon, that is, a compound made up of hydrogen and carbon molecules. It is an oily substance, dark in color and highly flammable, which was even used to embalm the bodies of pharaohs in ancient Egypt. Its formation results from the accumulation of organic remains of living beings in areas where there is an intense deposition of sediments, usually the ocean floor, where the sedimentary layers generate great pressure and specific conditions for the formation of the compound. Therefore, it is said that oil is a fossil fuel, that is, of fossil origin.
The biggest oil exporters are, respectively, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. The biggest consumers are the United States, China, Japan and India. The biggest reserves, that is, the availability of the product in nature, are from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Canada and Iran. Brazil has large reserves, many of them available in the pre-salt layer, located in parts of the Atlantic Ocean located close to the coast of the country.
By Me. Rodolfo Alves Pena
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/datas-comemorativas/dia-mundial-petroleo.htm
