Oil in Montana Oil is one of Montana’s several nonrenewable natural resources. It is a resource that can be obtained using multiple methods. Oil is a valuable resource. This resource has a plethora of uses and it is beneficial in both Montana’s and the U.S.’s economies. Getting Oil Locating the Oil Before any of the oil is ever extracted is must be located. The ones to locate this resource are geologists that are hired by either an oil company or under contract by a private firm. The geologists use several methods to locate oil. The most common method of locating the oil is called seismology. They create shock waves and know that they have located oil when the wave bounces back in a certain way. Geologists can use a compressed air gun for locating oil under water, a thumper truck for locating oil on land, and they …show more content…
A few of these are transportation fuels, heating, electrical generation, plastics, and much more. 70% of oil is used for transportation, 25% in industrial, 3% in residential, and 2% in commercial. Transportation Fuels In the U.S., about 2/3 of the oil that we use is used for transportation. This includes jet fuel, gasoline for cars, and diesel. Gasoline for cars, SUV’s, and other light trucks accounts for nearly 45% of all of the oil we use. Jet fuel accounts for nearly 10% of all of the oil we use. Nearly 24% of all of the fuel that we use is distillate fuel, which includes diesel. Heating In the U.S., around 25% of the oil that we use is used for heating. Most of the oil used for heating is distillate fuel, which is used for heating homes. The other little bit of oil used for heating is kerosene, which accounts for less than 1% of oil consumption in the U.S. Electrical Generation Electrical generation is a part of the residual fuel oil category. These are heavy fuels that are used in factories, shipping, and electrical power generation. This makes up nearly 4% of all of the fuel that is consumed in the U.S.