Every day millions of people use oil in some way. Yet, it is only in the past 150 years that oil has become so important to so many people. Oil is so valuable that it is sometimes called ‘black gold’. Imagine life without plastic and fuel.
Oil was once used in lamps.
Oil has been used for thousands of years. In places where oil naturally seeped to the surface, people collected it. The Ancient Babylonians used it as a mortar for building. The Native Americans used it as glue. In the 1850s, people decided they would not wait for the oil to come to the surface. They would drill for it.
When cars were invented, more oil was needed.
When the petrol engine was invented the demand for oil grew. Cars became more common. Now, oil has become a vital part of our life. Many oil-fields have been discovered and about 80 million barrels of oil are produced each day.
Wars are fought over oil.
Oil has become so important and valuable that wars have been fought over oil-fields. In 1991, Iraq invaded its neighbour Kuwait because it wanted Kuwait’s oil-fields. The UK and USA went to war with Iraq to help free Kuwait. Many of the oil-fields were deliberately set on fire by the Iraqi soldiers. Burning and leaking oil caused a lot of pollution to the environment.
