Oil and Off Shore Drilling Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Oil and Off Shore Drilling - Research Paper Example While drilling of oil is deemed necessary for compensating the deficiency of oil and to reduce its ever-increasing price, the large scale environmental effects of offshore oil drilling cannot be overlooked. According to the law of environmental science mass is always constant and therefore the amount of materials human beings release into the environment must go somewhere and in the course renders its due effect on nature. Hence during oil spills a large area around the rig is affected destroying the habitat both of water and land. The BP and the Exxon Valdez oil spill cases are remarkable in this context and the arctic zone is extremely vulnerable (BP oil spill: Italy drilling ban hits UK-listed explorer, 2011; Fontova, 2008). Although offshore drilling was temporarily banned after the BP incident, the constant demand for oil and petroleum and its high price of $110 per barrel have prompted US to relax regulations and favor offshore drilling. Moreover the economic goals of meeting d eficiency and reducing prices are not met by increase in offshore drilling. ... Hence the team participants of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have been deeming it conducive to boost the production of oil in order to control price rise. The author explains that when the supply increases in order to ensure future availability and reduction in cost, this further creates a boost in demand and hence the normal cases of price fall under increased supply does not take place. However while talking about oil price and the need to reduce the same, one needs to consider the global oil politics and the economy, which will be at stake. For instance, the oil exporting nations reap a major part of their revenues from oil. The sudden rise in oil prices made the oil dependant nations cautious about the supply strains and countries like United States put large-scale efforts to expand foreign reserves for future use. When the demand for oil fell suddenly in 2009, prices began to fall and this led to major problems with respect to decreasing government expenditur es and welfare activities in the oil exporting nations. The reserves of â€Å"easy oil† were already exhausted and extraction of â€Å"tough oil† requires large-scale investment in drilling and exploration, which the companies were not ready to make considering the falling demand. Therefore as the remaining reserves were getting depleted there was an impending rise in oil price, as demand would surge after recovery of the economy (Klare 2009). This shows the dangers involved in attempts to lowering of prices. Brian K. Mignone, director of research on Energy Security Initiative, has projected a similar explanation in his article ‘Offshore Drilling Will Not Significantly Lower Energy Prices’. Mignone (2008) observes that offshore drilling will