Getting gas for your car is such a normal thing to do, it’s easy to forget this gas is pumped from the core of the earth. Some countries have tons of oil reserves, some don’t and oil has been a factor of war for years. That’s because it’s super precious! Worldwide, thousands of people work day and night in the oil industry to make sure you can pump gas whenever you need to. In this article, we’ll give you 3 Interesting Facts about the Oil Industry Worldwide.
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Modern oil drilling started in 1846
Did you know that oil has been used for thousands of years? While the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians didn’t exactly know where that dark liquid came from, they did use crude oil for all kinds of things, such as preserving corpses or using the oil in construction. In ancient China, they even drilled for oil with bamboo sticks. It wasn’t until the middle of the eighteen hundreds the first modern oil wells were dug: in 1846 in Azerbaijan, in 1853 in Poland and in 1857 in Romania. The oil was used for new technologies, such as oil lamps. And ever since the first car was invented in 1885, the world’s thirst for oil hasn’t stopped.
Oil rigs are huge platforms in the ocean
Anno 2021, there are hundreds of oil rigs all around the world. Most oil rigs are built in the middle of the sea, e.g. in the Gulf of Mexico or in the North Sea. The Gulf of Mexico alone has 213 rigs! These rigs can be seen as ‘mini-cities’ since they’re huge and house more than a hundred workers. To give you an idea: the BP oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico was about the size of two football fields and was the home of around 130 people. These floating cities don’t only have spaces for the crew to sleep, they often also have gyms, dining areas, and game rooms.
Crew have to be trained to be allowed to work
Working on an oil rig isn’t without risk. Oil and gas is highly flammable (for that reason offshore workers aren’t allowed to carry lighters with them!) and you’re also working at sea, which can be rough and dangerous. For that reason, every worker on an offshore oil rig, needs to be able to show a certification before being allowed to work. This is the OPITO certification. OPITO or the Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation has created multiple courses that workers have to follow, depending on their line of work in the offshore sector.
Which of the following facts did you already know?