Is there any other sources for oil besides drilling?

Question

Is there any other sources for oil besides drilling?

Answer 1

Hitler ran his war machine on oil and gassoline made from coal.

Answer 2

I find that  your local grocery stores contain quite alot of oil, some even dedicate an entire aisle to it.  

Answer 3

Yes, several. Coal can be converted to crude oil through the Fischer-Tropsch process. There are abundant deposits of oil shale in Wyoming and the upper Mid-west. There are also abundant amounts of tar sands in Canada.

There is a catch to all of those sources. Primarily, to get oil from them creates an environmental catastrophe. Extracting oil from shale results in more waste than was originally dug from the ground (it expands when heated). Tar sands require huge amounts of energy to extract the oil meaning every barrel of oil costs about 2/3 of a barrel in energy (I think that's the number). The coal to oil process is chemical but releases huge amounts of CO2 even before the resulting oil is burned.

Will we use those sources? Possibly. But let's hope we go down other paths first.

Answer 4

not really the time and pressure to make petrol naturally really limits its locations to deep underground.

Answer 5

Yes.

The largest is the oil sands in Alberta Canada - in place resources are 1.3 trillion barrels - second only to Saudi Arabia conventional oil resources. Near the surface he oil sands are mined and processed (with hot water) to release the oil. Currently 2 mines operate and each produce over 100,000 barrels per day. For more mines are under construction.

Liquid fuels can also be extrqacted for coal and bio mass (ie corn for ethanol)