Even though I am new to the oil & gas industry, I have been around it my whole life. I was born and raised in Houston so naturally, oil & gas terminology is nothing that is new to me. It is a HUGE part of Houston and it seems every other person you ask about what they do for work, their answer has something to do with the industry. It wasn’t until I got older that I started hearing all of the negativity that would also surround the industry. People really come down pretty hard on oil & gas and would love to see a major decrease in it.
Protesters Using Oil Products
So I am going to start off by saying I agree to both sides…kind of. I agree that no matter what you are doing in life, there should be some sort of rules or guidelines. Well, I stand by that statement for the oil & gas industry as well. I think chemicals should be properly disposed of, flaring should be monitored, the ground should be properly protected from oil, etc. However, this is not what stands out to me when I see people protesting against oil.
Here, you will find some images of people pretesting against oil. Most of the signs say something along the lines of keeping it in the ground. I normally try to stay somewhat neutral in my blogs because I don’t like being one-sided on topics or show too much of my opinion. I have made an exception for this blog because to me, a lot of these “against oil” protestors aren’t seeing the whole picture. Let’s take the pictures above, for example, …specifically the third one. If you look closely at the sign that says, “Keep Fossil Fuels in the Ground,” you will notice that the sign is made up of a material called Vinyl. I will let whatisvinyl.com explain what vinyl even is.
“Vinyl is not a natural substance but is a synthetic man-made material. It is a type of plastic that is made from ethylene (found in crude oil) and chlorine (found in regular salt). When processed, both the substances are combined to form Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) resin, or as is commonly referred to – Vinyl.”
Hmm. Interesting. The ladies are holding up a sign that says to keep oil in the ground however the sign is made from a substance found in the oil. Look at the second picture. The gentleman doing the talking in this protest against big oil is doing so with the help of a megaphone. Megaphones are made out of plastic. ABS or Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene plastic to be specific. (Hey, guess what? So are Legos!) According to Wikipedia, ABS is derived from natural gas and petroleum. I could keep going on and on about their shoes, signs, sunglasses, and a million other things but I would like to move on to the picture below. Mostly because I find it pretty humorous.
The people above are protesting against Shell offshore drilling. What is the first thing you notice when looking at these pictures? Probably kayaks…tons of them. Kayaks are made from plastic, plastic is a product made from polyethylene, polyethylene comes from oil. I didn’t make this meme, but it is a true one.
Okay, I may have gone off on a mini rant. My point is that I have no problem with people sharing their views and opinions. I also see no problem with standing up for what you believe in. However, so many people want to end oil and focus on things such as renewable resources. All I ask, is don’t forget to do your research before protesting against something and don’t believe everything you see or hear.
Renewable Energy
This article is very interesting one. To sum it up, it is about the Ivanpah solar plant that the Obama Administration gave a $1.6 billion loan with hopes of producing 33% of California’s electricity from green sources. Now, the plant is facing being shut down. The reason is because it has caused multiple bird deaths, it blinds plane pilots, costs 6x the amount of natural gas fired plants, and only generated 45%-68% of the expected power.
Believe it or not, there are ways that the industry is taking preventative measures to harm the environment. Take our Passive Dehydration System for example. This system is environmental friendly and emits no harmful emissions.
