Petroleum is a natural resource extracted from the earth, including the sea bed. Increasing pressure on petroleum reserves around the world, and impacts of extracting, shipping, and selling oil for consumption in cars, the generation of electricity, and the production of consumer products (e.g., fertilizer).
You are part of a team that has been hired by the king of Saudi Arabia to solve their problem of relying almost entirely on the extraction, shipping, and sale of petroleum. This is a problem for Saudi Arabia for the following reasons:
Petroleum is a non-renewable resource
Petroleum will eventually run out, leaving the country with no way to generate income
Petroleum pollutes the environment, thus motivating countries around the world to find alternative energy sources
Resource exports like petroleum do not generate high-paying jobs within Saudi Arabia
Technology for extracting the petroleum needs to be improved
Instructions:
As a team, explore the following questions and generate responses to them; your responses will contribute to solving the problem of Saudi Arabia's reliance on petroleum as a non-renewable resource. Each team will contribute their answers to a wiki that the instructor has already created for this assignment. There will be a separate wiki page for each of team.
1. Which area has the largest oil reserves in the world? What is the ranking of Saudi Arabia's petroleum reserves comparing to other oil-producing nations?
2. How has the oil industry impacted Saudi Arabia's economy development ?
3. Can you describe the current technology used by to Saudi Arabia to extract oil?
4. Compare Saudi Arabia's petroleum-oriented economy to neighboring Egypt. What are the major resources that Egypt relies on to generate wealth? How do they compare the petroleum?
5. Develop at least three ideas to help Saudi Arabia reduce its dependence on petroleum and one idea to reduce their pollution of environment caused by extraction of petroleum.
Problem Scenario for Learners:
Petroleum is a natural resource extracted from the earth, including the sea bed. Increasing pressure on petroleum reserves around the world, and impacts of extracting, shipping, and selling oil for consumption in cars, the generation of electricity, and the production of consumer products (e.g., fertilizer).
You are part of a team that has been hired by the king of Saudi Arabia to solve their problem of relying almost entirely on the extraction, shipping, and sale of petroleum. This is a problem for Saudi Arabia for the following reasons:
Instructions:
As a team, explore the following questions and generate responses to them; your responses will contribute to solving the problem of Saudi Arabia's reliance on petroleum as a non-renewable resource. Each team will contribute their answers to a wiki that the instructor has already created for this assignment. There will be a separate wiki page for each of team.
Here is a link to a handout-Problem for Learners for these questions.
1. Which area has the largest oil reserves in the world? What is the ranking of Saudi Arabia's petroleum reserves comparing to other oil-producing nations?
2. How has the oil industry impacted Saudi Arabia's economy development ?
3. Can you describe the current technology used by to Saudi Arabia to extract oil?
4. Compare Saudi Arabia's petroleum-oriented economy to neighboring Egypt. What are the major resources that Egypt relies on to generate wealth? How do they compare the petroleum?
5. Develop at least three ideas to help Saudi Arabia reduce its dependence on petroleum and one idea to reduce their pollution of environment caused by extraction of petroleum.