What to Know About the Oil and Gas Industry The oil and gas industry is a multi-trillion dollar industry that’s dominated our world for over a century. From fueling our vehicles and planes to heating our homes, the industry has become the largest source of energy. Frequently it’s a hot topic even in politics, but not many people know how the industry itself works. It’s important to be knowledgeable about what you’re talking about, so to facilitate that knowledge, here are some facts about the oil and gas industry that you need to know.
Consumption is growing About 90 million barrels of crude oil are produced each day globally. Government reports have shown that their reserves have consistently increased over the past several decades, bringing about the question of how to handle the excess sustainably.
Production is a multi-stage process There are two stages in oil production, known as “upstream” and “downstream” respectively. Upstream involves searching for, finding, and then extracting the oil from the ground. During this process, workers explore everwhere they believe a deposit to be, using tools such as seismic imaging to search. Once a deposit is found, wells are drilled nearby—either on-or-offshore—to appraise the scale and value of the deposit found. Then the oil is squeezed out of the ground first with underground pressure, then gas or water injections when the natural pressure diminishes. Once all of that is done, the downstream stage can begin. This starts when the oil ends up in a refinery to be processed into useful products. After that’s complete, the oil is either sold to a vendor or directly to consumers.
Transportation is important Oil is transported in many different ways depending on where you’re located. In the United States, for example, oil is mainly transported through pipelines. In Europe and Asia, oil gets transported by oil tankers carrying anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million barrels of crude oil. China, meanwhile, sources its oil from other countries and relies on ships to receive its oil as a result. Tankers also help provide arbitrage opportunities, with the product being bought at a low price so it can be sold for a higher price elsewhere.
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The Oil Industry and COVID-19: What to Know About a month ago, the oil and gas industry reached an all-time low. The demand for oil dropped rapidly due to the spread of COVID-19, more commonly known as the coronavirus, right as Russia and Saudi Arabia flooded the market with an excess amount of oil. This left the market to collapse while oil prices dropped into the negatives, leaving uncertainty in the air. With such a massive crash, what lies ahead for the oil and gas industry in the coming months or, potentially, years? The Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently released a report to reflect on how the energy market has been impacted COVID-19.
Liquid Fuels Crude oil prices are expected to average at $34 billion this year, which is down from 2019’s $64 billion average. The average price is likely to increase as the amount of oil decreases, at a predicted $48 billion for 2021. Meanwhile, global petroleum and liquid fuel demand is predicted to average at around $92.6 billion, down $8.1 billion from last year. 2021 is expected to bring the demand back up approximately $7 billion. The demand for fuel in the United States will significantly decrease as travel restrictions remain in place, impacting the second quarter of 2020 in particular. However, it should grow gradually over the next 18 months.
Natural Gas Natural gas prices, on the other hand, will rise throughout the rest of 2020. However, the total consumption of natural gas will be down 3.9% from 2019 due to the disruption of the industrial sector. Liquified natural gas exports will average at around $5.8 Bcf during 2020’s second quarter and $4.8 Bcf in its third, though the lower global demand for natural gas will show a decline in exports by the end of summer.
Electricity, coal, renewables, and emissions Social distancing has impacted the United States’ electricity consumption and will continue to do so over the next few months. Because businesses have shut down or cut back on production, both the commercial and the industrial retail sectors will see a 6.5% fall in electricity sales. Electric power generation will also decline by about 5%, due in part to the lower fossil fuel generation. However, the EIA foresees energy-related CO2 emissions to drop by 11% because of business and travel restrictions.
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Best NHL Video Games Getting out onto the ice to play hockey isn’t everyone’s thing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the sport in other ways. Some do this by attending hockey games in person or watching them on TV, while others might prefer to read everything they can about the sport. Others, though, take a different approach: video games. Thanks to EA Sports, video games based around the National Hockey League (NHL) have been released for decades, making it easy to play without having to bundle up. Though they can’t all be named, here are some of the best NHL video games EA Sports has released.
NHL ‘94 NHL ‘94 is not only one of the greatest sports video games of all time, but one of the best video games period. Twenty-seven years after its release, star of the game Jeremy Roenick still has discussions with fans about his virtual self. NHL ‘94 is a 16-bit video game fondly remembered by fans of the sport and actual NHL players alike. From its realistic organ music to realistic hockey moves like one-timers and dekes, the EA Sports game brought about new and unique improvements to the NHL game that makes it unforgettable. NHL 2K2 NHL 2K2 brought about a dash of realism to the game series that the others before it didn’t. The rosters, in particular, had more finesse to them, as each hockey player within the game acted like he would in reality. This made them feel like individuals, rather than images on a screen with a real person’s name attached to them. The graphics and character AI greatly improved as well, with the goalies reacting to and recovering from the player’s shots in a way that makes it more challenging to score a goal, but more rewarding when it happens. NHL ‘11 Fans of the NHL games were quick to love NHL ‘11, particularly ones that hailed NHL ‘10 as the greatest hockey video game to exist. The physics engine was completely reinvented for this game, letting the player score goals from anywhere on the ice or break their sticks while blocking or taking a shot. Though the gaming mechanics were more true to how ice hockey is played in reality, then-marketing director for EA Sports David Lee said that, through NHL ‘11, they were “actually teaching people how to play hockey through the use of our game.”
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Getting an Ice Hockey Scholarship For some people, getting scholarships are crucial toward obtaining a college degree. With the price of a degree setting millions of people in debt, finding a way to ease that financial burden without having to pay it back is one way to alleviate stress both now and in the future. Sports scholarships are the easiest to come by for high school athletes, and while ice hockey is no exception, getting one for the sport is one you need to start years before graduation. Here’s how to get an ice hockey scholarship.
Be in Junior A hockey You’ll need several years of playing in Junior A hockey to be considered for a scholarship. This starts the recruitment process for coaches, and the longer you’re in Junior A hockey, the longer a coach will be able to observe your talents. This will give the coach an idea of your potential, both as an individual player and against the best competition.
Meet the NCAA requirements In order to be an NCAA athlete, you have to meet at least the minimum requirements set by the NCAA itself. Eligibility is based on your high school course work, grades, and test scores. These minimum requirements differ between divisions, but 99% of student-athletes who meet the Division I requirements will be eligible for all other divisions. These academic requirements include: ● ● ●
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Graduating high school. Completing 16 NCAA-approved core courses. Completing 10 core courses before your senior year, seven of them including English, math, or science courses. None of these can be repeated or replaced starting in your senior year. Earning a 2.3 GPA or higher in your core courses. Earning a combined SAT score or ACT sum score that matches your core-course GPA on the NCAA scale.
Do some research Each school is different, and therefore have different requirements for entering their hockey programs. Rather than worry about being a certain size or weight (though it certainly helps to aim for those as well), go to the website of the schools you’re looking at and find out what
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leagues they typically recruit players from. Try to play in that league if you’d like to play for that school.
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