Remote Sensing To Be Used For Oil Spill Mapping- Monitoring & Management

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Literature Review

1.0 Introduction

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring liquid found in formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons (mostly alkanes) of various lengths. In its naturally occurring form, it may contain other nonmetallic elements such as sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen(Bentz, 2010: 333 - 335). It is usually black or dark brown (although it may be yellowish or even greenish) but varies greatly in appearance, depending on its composition. Crude oil may also be found in semi-solid form mixed with sand, as in the Athabasca oil sands in Canada, where it may be referred to as crude bitumen.

It provides 40% of the nation's power supply—far more than any other source. Oil powers our industries, heats our buildings, and provides the raw material for plastics, paints, textiles, and other materials(Bjerde, 2010: 943 - 945).

Petroleum is used mostly, by volume, for producing fuel oil and gasoline (petrol), both important "primary energy" sources. About 84% (37 of 42 gallons in a typical barrel) of the hydrocarbons present in petroleum is converted into energy-rich fuels (petroleum-based fuels), including gasoline, diesel, jet, heating, and other fuel oils, and liquefied petroleum gas(Espedal, 2009: 1478 - 1480).

The importance of oil to the modern world is unique in character and incredibly far-reaching in scope. It is a singularly autonomous variable in the world economy, just as, if not more potent and influential than Federal Reserve decisions, the Euro-Dollar exchange rate, conditions in the U.S or stock market indexes. Oil availability and price affect the output capacity, rate of growth and level of inflation throughout the world. In the modern world, oil affects transportation, heating, production and the military. One would be hard pressed to find a substance or phenomena in world history that has held a comparable position(Goodman, 2011: 11-21).

Petroleum is a nonrenewable fossil fuel. It is the product of a multi-million year geological process in which organic material is transformed in underground reservoirs. The fact that we can not produce petroleum is an underlying factor that defines the nature of the oil industry (Bern, 2009a: 264-287). Due to its high energy density, easy transportability and relative abundance, it has become the worlds most important source of energy since the mid-1950s. Petroleum is also the raw material for many chemical products, including solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, and plastics; the 16% not used for energy production is converted into these other materials.

The importance of petroleum to the present world's economy cant be overestimated. It provides about 40 percent of total energy, and a whopping 97 percent of all the fuel used for transportation. Its no surprise, then, that every recession since World War II in the US and beyond has come on the heels of a global oil shortage and the accompanying surge in price. The shocks of 1973-74 and 1979-80, for example, resulted in sharply higher prices, as well as broader inflation and worldwide recession(Espedal, 2010: ...