At its present rate of pumping crude oil, Saudi Arabia pumps a cubic mile of oil out of earth every 7 years.?

Question

In that the extraction of oil in the Middle East has been going on for many decades, how long will it be before there is a land collapse, and what will happen to the United states, in that we depend on the Middle east for 60 percent of our oil?

Answer 1

Why exactly do you think there have been so many more earthquakes, the one in Turkey a few years ago, a 9.2 or so, actually changed the shape of the earth??
Time to think more globally, don't you think??

Answer 2

To build upon previous answers, in situations where a cavity is actually created by extracting oil or natural gas, most responsible oil producers backfill that cavity with water or some kind of a slurry.

As a point of fact, the United States is actually the world's second largest oil producing nation (after Saudi Arabia). Furthermore, the US imports less than half of the oil it consumes, with Mexico, Canada, and Venezuela all providing equal proportions to that which Saudi Arabia provides.

Answer 3

Well even though he's a jerk, Billy is right. Oil is not sitting in big pools underground - it is in oil saturated rock (usually sandstone/limestone since those are very porous) and is basically squeezed out. Kind of like sucking water out of a soaked sponge - except this sponge is made out of rock and the water is oil. The lower density of the oil and the pressure of the surrounding rock is what forces the oil up once we send down a pipe.

So there is not going to be any kind of major land collapse because oil is taken out of the ground.

Answer 4

THERE WONT BE A LAND COLLAPSE DUMMY. ITS NOT LIKE THEY ARE PULLING THE OIL OUT OF SOME POOL UNDERGROUND. THEY ARE SQUEEZING IT OUT OF THE ROCKS AND SAND.

THE US IS RESEARCHING MANY ALTERNATIVES RIGHT NOW. MOST LIKELY WE WILL END UP PAYING MORE FOR OUR FUEL IN THE FUTURE. WAY MORE!!!!