The Drilling Process: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

As important as it is for the world to have more oil wells, the drilling, exploration, and extraction processes remain a point of debate in developed countries. There is no doubt that the makes the world go round. It’s not just your vehicles, but industrial machinery also need the many different types of fuels that come from the crude oil and petroleum from an oil well. When you look at the drilling process of an oil well, there are benefits, non-benefits, and some big disadvantages associated with it. Let’s take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of oil well drilling.

The Good

First, oil drilling technology is getting better with time along with the technology used for exploration. This will increase the efficiency of oil producing companies and do less damage to the environment. In addition to technological improvements, oil drilling creates jobs for hundreds and thousands of individuals. Any restrictions on oil reserves in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico once lifted can create employment for up to 200,000 individuals. Not to mention, drilling oil wells helps a country rely on its resources and drop its expenditure towards imports of oil from various countries.

The Bad

The bad of the oil well drilling industry is that even the biggest oil producers in the world do not have the best technology to make their drilling process more efficient. For example, Russia admitted a couple of years ago that it did not have the equipment and technology to produce oil offshore. The issues between Russia and America are a hindrance to the provision of equipment to the largest oil producer in the world. Similarly, Cuba lacks the technology to make the most of its oil reserves. According to experts, it is using only 5% of oil obtained from its reserves. In the recent years, the oil and gas industry has seen some improvement, and this is why the governments in the developed countries have started to focus on investing in oil and gas production technology. A good example is the 180 million pounds given to Oil and Gas Technology Center given by the UK.

The Ugly

What makes drilling for oil and gas ugly is the impact of this process on the environment. The first bad impact of the drilling process is the release of dangerous gases in the air when the equipment for oil well drilling is used. The offshore oil production can hugely pollute environment and ocean waters when something goes wrong. The Exxon Valdez Wreck in 1989 and the BP Oil Spill in 2010 are good examples of the bad environmental effects of oil well drilling. There is also political impact associated with oil well drilling. As old reserves start to deplete, countries are quickly exploring and drilling in new regions to find more oil. Not to mention, countries like the USA are also drilling more oil wells to reduce or eliminate their reliance on other nations for oil.