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| Joined: | Mon Nov 21st, 2005 |
| Location: | California USA |
| Posts: | 6399 |
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The greatest product of oil, however, is wealth. As J. Paul Getty advised: "Formula for success: rise early, work hard, strike oil." This wealth is due to the phenomenal returns from oil, known as EROEI, energy return on energy invested. Unlike coal, which had to be physically lifted from the ground, oil often flowed to the surface under pressure. Returns of over 100 times the energy invested to drill a well were not uncommon in the early days of oil exploration.
It is this bonanza of essentially unearned natural wealth that has formed the basis of much of the 20th-century improvement in human living conditions. Cheap oil forms the basis of the current US food production chain and any number of other systems: "Crude oil has been critical for economic development and the smooth functioning of almost every aspect of society. Agriculture and food production is heavily dependent on oil for fuel and fertilisers. In the US, for instance, it takes the direct and indirect use of about six barrels of oil to raise one beef steer. It is the basis of most transport systems. Oil is also crucial to the drugs and chemicals industries and is a strategic asset for the military." (emphasis added)