Todays Rising Gas Prices Essay -- essays research papers

Todays Rising Gas PricesAt some point in everyones lives, we are affected by the rising gas prices in todays economy. Natural gas is not a renewable resource, since in that respect is a fixed amount of it trapped in the Earth. However, many people carry the misconception that there is a very limited amount of natural gas, and that we whitethorn use all of it up. This isnt true. The gas shortages of the 1970s were prompted by the governments lack of faith in the industrys ability to discover and induce new reserves, not by lack of gas supply. The unfortunate impression left by the shortages of gas in the 1970s caused the people to believe that there was a small amount of gas left. On the contrary, the gas resource base is vast, and probably even larger than currently estimated. People are often low by the difference in "proved reserves", those that could be economically produced with the current technology, and the total natural gas resource base. Before the 70s, vegetabl e oil from the Middle East was very cheap, and in North America, it was about $4 a barrel. But then, the leaders of the Middle East discovered that everyone needed their oil, so they formed OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). Practically overnight, they jacked up the prices of oil by limiting the supply. This was the first oil crisis. It lasted for a while, but then they got greedy, and started supplying to a greater extent oil, in hopes to make more money. But then there was more supply than demand, so t...