Oil Wells: Plus and Minus for Dummies - The Freelance Files MMLXV

Groundwater vs. oil reservoir depth

We know, we know: this has to be the gazillionth time the Antisocial Network has taken another English major to task for holding forth on science and technology they didn't understand. The problem is, they never learn! Back in 2012, some yutz by the name of Mitchell Brock (wonder what his last name is?) pretended to write about "The Positive & Negative Effects of Oil Wells."¹ Wonder of wonders, Leaf Group recognized it for schlock, and asked cleanup team member Melinda Hill Sineriz to rewrite it for BizFluent.com. The problem? Sineriz's version was only a slight improvement (even after a "review" by three-degree holder Michelle Seidel).

Brock, writing in the shadow of the so-called Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill, pounded out a polemic about how horrible the petroleum industry is; leaving his readers with the impression that every well drilled is an environmental disaster. Sineriz toned down the spittle-spraying, but along the way she shared more than a little... misinformation. For instance, she started out by telling us that,

"Whether you like it or not, oil is an essential part of our culture and economy. Although electric cars are gaining momentum, most cars are still powered by gasoline. Gasoline is made from crude oil, obtained from oil wells."

If, as Melinda seemed to think, the only benefit of oil wells is gasoline for our cars; then let's get on with the conversion to electric vehicles. The downside, however? We'd also stop producing the raw materials for plastics and the feedstocks for everything from cosmetics to pharmaceuticals. Get real, Mel!

If that were Sineriz's only mistake, we might have let it slide. It wasn't: here are some of her other botched factoids:

• "The drill makes a hole, which is walled for stability. " – Cased or cemented, yes; "walled"? WTF does that even mean?
• "After the drilling, a production tree is installed on top, which pumps up the oil from the ground." – Production trees do not pump.
• "Horizontal wells approach oil and natural gas from the side. Horizontal wells are more efficient and have less of an impact on the environment. They can run much deeper than conventional wells..." – What, Melinda, you start drilling sideways into a mountain? A horizontal well is actually a horizontal section at the bottom of a vertical well; one reason that they are "deeper." As for "less impact," well, a lot of modern horizontal wells are subject to hydraulic fracturing, the detested "fracking.
• "To drill for oil on land, vegetation and topsoil need to be cleared, which... creates erosion, as there is no topsoil or plant-life to absorb the water." – Sineriz was clearly unaware that once a wellsite is abandoned, almost all jurisdictions require remediation of the site.
• "Oil wells also bring water to the surface...This reduces water in underground aquifers, which people may rely on..." – Oil reservoirs and groundwater stores are at vastly different depths. Very few aquifers of potable water are more than a few hundred feet below the surface, while very few oil reservoirs are less than a few thousand feet different. Ergo, not the same water supply, Mel.
• "Many [people] working in the oil industry are attracted by the relatively high wages. The average annual income of a derrick operator, for example, is $47,510." – We have no earthly idea what a "derrick operator" is. We do, however, know that many degreed employees in the oil industry start at a salary of almost twice what Sineriz cited.

And finally, Melinda's most questionable statement of all:

"When offshore drilling is completed, the oil wells are sometimes left in the ocean. The wells attract coral and other ocean life. Over time, these wells become coral reefs."

That's a botched understanding of the U. S. Department of Interior's Rigs to Reefs program. She's conflated a "well" with an offshore platform. That's a bit like conflating a closet with an apartment building!

What does that leave us with? A half-assed assessment of both the positive and negative effects of oil wells, long on misinformation and short on knowledge. It's more than enough to earn a Dumbass of the Day award. We just have to decide whether the author or her "reviewer" deserves the honor.

Of course it's Sineriz; the "review" step at Leaf Group rarely entails more than checking to see if the references are real and the text meets the site's style guide. Feh.

¹ Today's DotD nominee rewrote Mitch's screed, but if you're really interested you can see the original using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Just ask to see the URL  ehow.com/info_8433760_positive-negative-effects-oil-wells.html

SI - OIL