This lesson provides an introduction to the world oil market and the United States' dependence on it. Topics include our current usage, sources, and the political implications of acquiring oil from an international market. There is also discussion of how petroleum is created and trapped in reservoirs, and how oil companies find it. The lesson includes an activity in which students use an online game that simulates the exploration and production of petroleum. To win, they must actually 'produce' commercial quantities of oil or gas by drilling in the ground in a 8-by-8 mile plot of land with a budget of $2 million dollars.

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This resource requires 'Virtual Oil Well'

Publisher: Kennesaw State University
Environmental Science Activities for the 21st Century (ESA21)
http://esa21.kennesaw.edu/

Author: John Pratte
Arkansas State University