A Look at How Oil and Gas Impact Your Life

Let’s take a look at your day. Did you have coffee? Cook lunch? Check messages on your smart phone, tablet, or computer? Call a friend? Take a few snapshots for Instagram? If you did any of these things, then you made use of a product derived from the oil or natural gas transported by transmission pipelines.

The U.S. continues to explore renewable sources, such as wind, solar, and hydro, but we still need oil and natural gas because they are woven into almost every aspect of our lives.

Along with powering planes, trains, automobiles, trucks, tractors, ships, heating, and electricity, there are more than 6,000 objects made from petroleum products, including asphalt for roads and roofs, carbon for bike tires, shampoo, computers, vitamins, and toothbrushes.

In the U.S., the oil and natural gas industry also powers the social programs we rely on, like public education and health care. In the health care industry alone, oil and gas make a massive impact. Transportation for health care professionals, plastics used in equipment, and the pharmaceutical industry depend on the petroleum industry.

Consider this example: the oil embargo of the 1970s caused inflation in the price of plastic feedstocks, delays in their delivery to factories, and subsequent delays in finished product delivery to health care facilities in the United States.

This industry contributes significant amounts of money to federal and state governments. The oil and gas industry does not exist in a vacuum; it powers the lives of everyday people.