It’s difficult to comprehend that amidst all the chaos that is going on with the crude oil prices in the world, that this has been the bed rock for most of the mid-eastern economy for a better half of a century. With OPEC member countries flooding the world with excess oil, the price of this commodity came down as low as $30 a barrel. This decrease in prices lead many of the investors and traders to think that crude oil as a commodity has stopped being appealing.
But let us look at what are the other uses of oil that we know of. Well it is used in making synthetic fibres used in making cheap clothing and also in making fertilizers for the smooth production of crops. But the major chunk of crude is used in making plastics. ALL PLASTICS ARE MADE FROM OIL.
This might be an eye opener for many as people just see plastics has been recycled and reused again and again. But when look properly plastics demand has increased manifold in recent past. Just as many uses of plastics have been discovered, more and more plastics are taken to be a useful rather than a by-product of fractional distillation.
Time has come to internalize that can we sustain a world that can function as we know it without oil. Whenever there is a debate on oil among individuals, the only aspect that comes in perspectives are the energy and transportation requirements that have to be met due to lack of oil.
To the most of the part it is right on their part as major portion of oil goes into production of gasoline or diesel or aviation fuel. But there are uses that have seeped in our lives of oil that cannot be sufficed by any other substitute.
When TESLA came up with an electric car, every fan of clean energy was happy and environmentalists thought that we are doing something towards a new energy future. But everyone forgot that many of the parts that when in the car are from plastics. Tesla might have reduced the carbon emission for making a car but does this hold good for their suppliers. Even the insulation for the wires is made from the plastics made from oil. But when we are talking about all these substitutes and the alternative options, one thing that needs to be seen is what is the reach of this and is it beneficial at the large scale.
There are estimates that we have used more than 1 trillion barrels of oil till date and there is slightly more than the same quantity left in the earth’s crust. Can we be able to survive the crisis? Energy aspects can be taken care of in near future but the utilitarian aspect looks unattended.
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