Zipping down the open highway in your clunker of a car, you look at the gas tank meter and see that it’s close to empty. What to do? You futilely wish the car didn’t have to run on gasoline—you could buy an electric car, but they’re still too expensive. So you resolve to figure out how you can live a life less dependent on petroleum in general, and luckily, you see a gas station just off the road.
Understanding the life cycle of petroleum means first finding its source, and one place that is considered the birthplace of natural oil and gas use is Azerbaijan. On your quest to not only understand and the many ways it is used, you take an overland journey (much more fuel efficient) and check into one of the many hotels in Baku.
Once there, you realize that not only does petroleum make things, it also makes millionaires. The growing city is surrounded by oil fields both on land and in the ocean, and it obvious the economic wealth of the nation is based on this enterprise. The regeneration and growth of the city is based on the resurgence of petroleum drilling in the last twenty years, and it is really starting to show.
In looking at what petroleum makes, you discover that of a 42 gallon barrel of oil, only 19.4 gallons of gasoline is created. What happens to rest of the stuff? Well, most everything else we use—plastics, nylons, and rubberized materials, even parts of detergents—are contain an element of petroleum. That means the shoes and clothes we wear, the dish soap we wash up with and the sponges we scrub with—everything is a petroleum product to an extent.
Walking around Baku and seeing the drills in the distance and the wealth they have created, your realize that practically everything you’re wearing and brought with you on the trip is all now a little close to its birthplace. The restaurants, shops, and museums-- even Baku hotels, can’t escape it. Petroleum is a vital product.
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