The modern history of petroleum began with the invention of petroleum distillation process in 1853. Polish scientist Agnus lucasey extracted kerosene from crude oil by distillation. The following year, the first "rock oil" mine was discovered in Boburka near Crosno in southern Poland, and Lucseyvichy built the first oil refinery (actually a brewery) near Ulaszowice. These inventions spread quickly all over the world. 186 1 year, Meerzoeff built Russia's first oil refinery in a mature oil field in Baku.
1848 Russian engineer F.N. Semyenov exploited the first modern oil well in Asperon Peninsula in the northeast of Baku.
In the mid-1950s, coal was still the main fuel in the world, but oil soon replaced it. After the energy crises of 1973 and 1979, there are often reports on oil supply by major media, which makes people realize that as an economic energy, oil is a limited resource and will eventually be exhausted. Most of the popular predictions at that time were terrible, and many of them did not come true. As a fuel, the prospect of oil is still controversial. USA Today (2004) reported that there are only 40 years left in the underground oil reserves. Some people think that the total amount of oil is limited, and the terrible prediction of 1970 is only postponed. Another argument is that cheap hydrocarbons can continue to be produced technically, and there are huge unconventional oil reserves in the form of tar sands, tar fields and oil shale on the earth, which will make the use of oil continue for a very long time to come.
Today, about 90% of vehicle fuel demand is met by oil. Oil accounts for 40% of all energy consumption in the United States, but it only accounts for 2% of electricity production. As a convenient energy source for a large number of vehicles and the basis of many industrial chemicals, oil is one of the most important commodities in the world. The acquisition of oil has become the main factor causing many military conflicts, including the Second World War and the Persian Gulf War. About 80% of the world's easily exploitable reserves are in the Middle East, of which 62.5% come from five Arab countries: Saudi Arabia (12.5%), United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Qatar and Kuwait. Less than 3% in the United States.
International oil prices have risen sharply. In 2004, international oil prices rose all the way, attracting worldwide attention. At the beginning of June this year, with the international crude oil futures price hitting a record high of 139. 12 on June 6 this year, the world's major central banks, which had kept cutting interest rates to stimulate the economy, turned around and suggested raising interest rates, hoping to alleviate the growing domestic inflation threat. These signs clearly show that the main source of global inflationary pressure is quietly shifting from agricultural products to non-renewable energy. The high price of crude oil has cast a shadow over the development prospect of the world economy. According to the estimation of the International Monetary Fund, for every $5 increase in oil prices, the global economic growth rate will be reduced by about 0.3 percentage points. High oil prices have an impact on consumers, and household energy expenditures have increased, and other expenditures have to be cut. The continuous rise in oil prices has also increased the cost of enterprises and narrowed the profit margin, especially in the fields of aviation and automobiles. In the face of high oil prices, although Asian economic growth has not slowed down significantly, the inflationary pressure brought about by it is obvious, and the Asian economy is in danger of stagflation.
At the conference held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, attended by the world's major crude oil producers and consumers, Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, said that it would increase crude oil production and increase investment to expand crude oil production capacity if the market needed it. After increasing its crude oil production by 300,000 barrels per day in May, Saudi Arabia decided to increase its crude oil production by another 200,000 barrels per day from July, bringing its crude oil production to 9.7 million barrels per day. However, the market's concerns about the tight global crude oil supply have not been alleviated, and international oil prices continued to rise on the 23rd. In fact, there are still differences of opinion within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the ability of countries outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase crude oil production is limited, and the growth rate of global crude oil demand is faster than that of supply, so Saudi Arabia's production increase is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket.
At the same time, the tension in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, caused the international crude oil futures price to climb to $ 138438+04 per barrel on the 23rd. On the same day, Nigerian oil workers went on strike because of the breakdown of negotiations with Chevron. After the Anglo-Dutch Shell Oil Company shut down an oil field with a daily output of 200,000 barrels of crude oil in Nepal due to an armed attack, it was unable to deliver the goods as stipulated in the contract. 2 1 day, American Chevron also announced that a factory in Nepal was closed due to the attack, resulting in an average daily decrease of1.2000 barrels of crude oil. The market generally believes that these will affect Nigeria's crude oil exports.
In fact, another reason for the current high oil price is speculation in the international futures market. The three major stock indexes in the United States, the major stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region and the London Financial Times Index are all deeply influenced by it. A few days ago, in order to curb the rise in oil prices, the Bush administration proposed to lift the ban on offshore oil exploration in the United States. Recently, the US Congress rejected the government's plan to explore offshore oil, and the United States extended the ban once a year from 1988. At present, there is still room for further increase in global oil prices.