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A Level Geography > Carbon 6.5 > Flashcards

Carbon 6.5 Flashcards

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1
Q

Energy pathways

A
  • the route by which energy is transferred from the production area to the consumption area.
  • There is a mismatch between supply and demand across the world. Black is production and red is consumption.
  • This means that energy pathways have been established in order to trade the energy supplies between countries
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2
Q

How is energy transferred from production area to consumption area?

A
  • Pipelines

- Large ships

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3
Q

Physical threats to the main energy pathways

A
  • Terrain/topography – mountainous increases difficulty in construction
  • Construction and maintenance in vast remote areas (Siberia)
  • Climate and permafrost disruption - pipelines must be above ground and insulated to ensure permafrost is not melted and creates land subsidence
  • Extraction from deep sea is challenging (Gulf of Mexico – Hurricane season)
  • Physical ‘chokepoints’ (a narrow sea channel) can be blocked over half the world’s oil travel’s through 8 major choke points
  • Natural hazards – tectonically active area
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4
Q

Human threats to the main energy pathways

A
  • Maintaining and fixing the pipelines
  • Technical problems like pipeline leaks – must be organised and monitored
  • Supplies diverted for greater profit (to china) or for political reasons
  • Political tension and conflict can lead to disruption in supply (Iraq wars in 1990)
  • Piracy at chokepoints - the Straits of Malacca in Indonesia – in 2015, criminal gangs frequently seized ships for hostage payments
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5
Q

Case study - Russia to Europe

Facts about Russian’s gas and oil

A
  • Russia is the world’s second largest producer of gas
  • It also imports a significant amount of gas, presumably to help it meets its own needs
  • Most of its gas exports go to Europe via a network of pipelines
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6
Q

Case study - Russia to Europe

How many pipelines are there from Russia to Europe?

A
  • There are 4 pipelines

- 3 of these pipelines cross Ukraine – there is Russian military action here

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7
Q

Case study - Russia to Europe

What is the tension with Russia’s pipeline?

A
  • 3 of the 4 pipelines going into Europe go through Ukraine
  • Therefore, Ukraine is in a position to make life difficult for the Russian gas industry
  • E.g., threatening to increase the price it charges for allowing the transfer of gas across its territory. They could also just stop the flows
  • Tension is rising due to Ukraine possibly joining the EU and become a member of NATO – this why there are many conflicts
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8
Q

Case study - Russia to Europe

What is the risk of Europe over relying on Russia for energy?

A
  • There have been strained political relations between Russia and Western Europe
  • Heavy reliance carries the potential risk of being involved in various forms of political and economic blackmail
  • Although the UK still obtains most its gas from Qatar, in 2015 it doubled its imports from Russia to 29.1bn cubic metres
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9
Q

Case study - Russia to Europe

Why is the UK doubling its imports from Russia?

A

-It is doing this to offset the declining output from the UK’s North Sea gas fields

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10
Q

Case study - Russia to Europe

Northern Lights and Yamal Europe

A
  • These are two major systems that deliver Russian gas to Eastern Europe
  • Poland depends on this and lacks good alternatives
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11
Q

Case study - Russia to Europe

Brotherhood

A
  • The Soyuz and Brotherhood pipelines are Gazprom’s major export routes for delivering gas to Europe through Ukraine
  • Gazprom is seeking alternative routes to avoid going through Ukraine
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12
Q

Case study - Russia to Europe

Why did Russia cut off Ukraine’s gas in 2014?

A
  • Russia claimed that Ukraine were failing to pay off its debts (£3.3bn)
  • 2006 – it cut off supplies due to price disputes which led to gas shortages in Eastern Europe
  • This could have affected the rest of Europe and leave households with no energy
  • Ukraine suggested that it was about politics – how Ukraine were supposed to make a free trade deal with Ukraine, this would bring cheap EU goods to flood into Russia
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13
Q

What can blocking a chokepoint do?

A
  • It can lead to substantial increases in total energy costs and world energy prices
  • Disruptions to these routes can affect oil prices and add thousands of miles of transit in alternative routes
  • Chokepoints also leave oil tankers vulnerable to theft from pirates, terrorist attacks, shipping accidents leading to disastrous spills and political unrest
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14
Q

What are the most important chokepoints?

A
  • The strait Malacca linking the Indian and the Pacific Ocean
  • These are the most strategic chokepoints measured by volume of oil transit
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15
Q

Why are chokepoints so important?

A
  • Over half of the world’s oil goes through these checkpoints
  • 20% of oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz
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16
Q

What factors can impact energy security?

A
  • Natural hazards
  • Political conflict
  • Piracy
  • Military action
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17
Q

Example of Piracy impacting energy security:

A
  • December 2015
  • The International Maritime Bureau reported piracy attacks along the strait of Malacca between Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia
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18
Q

What do Pirates do to impact energy security?

A
  • Criminal gangs frequently seized ships for hostage payments
  • Over 500 attacks occurred from 2009-2015
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19
Q

What happened to the Trans Forcados, Efurun-Otor and Escravos pipelines in Nigeria?

A
  • They were bombed in 2016 by militants

- This resulted in a loss of 300,000 barrels of crude oil a day

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20
Q

How has the UK’s energy security been impacted by external factors?

A
  • During a stormy winter in 2013

- UK gas reserves fell to 6 hours’ worth as the storm damage paralysed an import pipeline

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21
Q

Case study - the Syrian conflict

Who are the superpowers and their allies involved with this conflict?

A
  • Russia with Shia (non-fundamentalist allies)

- USA with Sunni (fundamentalist allies)

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22
Q

Case study - the Syrian conflict

Why is Russia involved?

A
  • Russia is the world’s largest exporter for oil and gas
  • Iran wants a share of the European market and is an ally of Russia
  • With Iran’s support, Russia has control over European energy while strengthening a non-fundamentalist bloc between Asia and the Middle East
  • Iran wants to export its gas via pipelines through Syria
  • This explains why it defends the Syrian government
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23
Q

Case study - the Syrian conflict

Which other countries seek to be Europe’s main supplier?

A
  • Sunni
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • All would need a pipeline through Syria
24
Q

Case study - the Syrian conflict

Why is USA involved?

A
  • Qatar and Saudi Arabia are US allies, which explains why the USA and its allies are happy for Al Qaeda to conquer a strip through Syria over which US companies would build pipelines
  • This would allow other us companies such as Exxon to market Middle Eastern oil and gas in Europe
25
Q

Deepwater spills examples

A
  • 2010 – the disastrous explosion of BP’s rig in the Gulf of Mexico that caused an environmental catastrophe
  • This killed 11 workers and spewed 4m barrels of petrol in to the ocean for 87 days
  • This devastated marine life and polluted 1,300 miles of shoreline
  • Thousands were put out of work in oil, fisheries and tourism
26
Q

What is peak oil?

A

The global peak in production of oil before decline

27
Q

Do we know when peak oil will be reached?

A

For a long time, this was thought to be close but recently, countries such as USA and Canada have started to exploit unconventional fossil fuels to increase their security.

28
Q

What are the main types of UFF?

A
  • Tar/oil sands
  • Oil shale
  • Shale gas
  • Natural gas
  • Deep water oil
29
Q

What makes them unconventional?

A

They are not extracted in the same simple ways as conventional fuels and their extraction is more costly, uses more energy and is more environmentally damaging

30
Q

Why are unconventional fossil fuels being exploited now?

A

These are becoming more economical as oil prices increased until OPEC flooded the market and reduced global oil prices to out compete.

31
Q

Why are unconventional fossil fuels being exploited now?

A

The development of these is also controversial as it reduces the need to develop renewable energy further.

32
Q

Deep water oil

A
  • As accessible reserves run out, prospecting companies have to look into deeper ocean waters with greater risks and costs
  • North Sea oil is an example of an accessible reserve that is running out
  • The Gulf of Mexico and Brazil’s offshore reserves
33
Q

Tar Sands/oil sands

A
  • Oil sands
  • Bituminous sands
  • Extra heavy oil
  • These are naturally occurring mixtures of sand, clay, water and a dense viscous form of petroleum called bitumen
  • Canada has 73% of known global stocks
34
Q

Shale gas

A
  • Usually, methane in coal seams

- Natural gas trapped in fractures and pores of sandstones and shales

35
Q

Oil shale

A
  • Deposits of organic compounds called kerogen in sedimentary rocks that have not undergone sufficient pressure, heat or time to become conventional oil
  • The USA has 77% of known global reserves
36
Q

Canada tar sands facts

A
  • Canada has the world’s largest reserves of tar sands, with three major deposits in Alberta.
  • There is surface mining over 3.4% of the area
  • Production increased from zero point 1,000,000 barrels a day in 1980 to 2.3 million in 2014 and is predicted to reach 4,000,000 by 2030
  • $4 trillion is expected to go into the Canadian economy between 2015 and 2035
37
Q

Case study - Canada Tar Sands

What are tar sands?

A
  • A mixture of clay, sand, water and bitumen - a very viscous oil
  • The oil is too thick to be pumped from the ground
  • It must be taken from an open pit, or strip mined
  • To recover the oil, it must be separated from the sands using very hot water diluted with lighter hydrocarbons
38
Q

Case study - Canada Tar Sands

How are tar sands extracted?

A
  • Tar sands are extracted by open cast mining
  • The extracted material is crushed and mixed with water, and the bitumen is separated before it can be used
  • Tar sands can also be pumped out by high pressure steam which is injected underground to separate the bitumen from the sand
39
Q

Case study - Canada Tar Sands

Social costs

A
  • Fears over pollution in the Athabasca River, atmospheric toxins and an increased incidence of rare cancers and autoimmune diseases
  • Disruption to traditional ways of life - the area is inhabited by many indigenous people
  • There is now a housing crisis, as thousands of workers have been shipped in
  • Gambling, substance abuse, and crime have risen
  • There are impacts on local wildlife and people, leaks into water supplies from tailings ponds, and infringements of indigenous people’s treaty rights over fishing and hunting grounds
40
Q

Case study - Canada Tar Sands

social benefits

A
  • New jobs in areas where other employment is limited
  • Local business businesses benefited from the trade
  • 151,000 direct jobs in 2013 had been created
41
Q

Case study - Canada Tar Sands

Implications for the carbon cycle

A

-In 2013 eight point 5% of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions came from tar sands operations , with a predicted increase to 14% by 2030

42
Q

Case study - Canada Tar Sands

Consequences for the resilience of fragile environments

A
  • There is a large amount of energy needed with the heating and pumping even before the oil is used - this results in an estimated contribution to global warming 3 times higher than conventional oil
  • the mining process leaves scars on the landscape which are refilled with the sands once the oil has been extracted
  • the tailings ponds contain toxic chemicals and have killed migrating waterfowl
43
Q

Case study - Canada Tar Sands

Role of business in developing reserves

A
  • Local and international companies include shell BP
  • Producers of this crude oil from these oil sands says that it will have a positive impact on the economies of Alberta and Canada
  • The Canadian tar sands operations are regulated by national and provincial bodies and regulations they said target over 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in Alberta by 2017
44
Q

Case study - Canada Tar Sands

Environmental group opinions

A

-Greenpeace called for an end to the industrialization of indigenous territories forests and wetlands in northern Alberta

45
Q

Case study - Canada Tar Sands

Governments role

A
  • The regional and national government promote tar sands for energy security and economic development
  • However, they want to ensure sustainable and responsible extraction
46
Q

Case study - shale gas usa

What is shale gas?

A

-Is a natural gas which is mostly methane trapped inside impermeable shell rocks, so it cannot be extracted by normal drilling

47
Q

Case study - shale gas usa

How is it extracted?

A
  • The rock must be broken to free the gas, which is done by hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known fracking
  • this involves forcing water mixed with chemicals into shale rock so that the rock splits apart and any gas flows into a prepared well where it is concentrated enough to recover
48
Q

Case study - shale gas usa

Benefits

A
  • Increased energy reserves
  • reduces need for imports
  • flexible energy source
49
Q

Case study - shale gas usa

Impact on environment

A
  • Can involve vertical drilling which has an impact on the ground surface
  • there needs to be many drill sites which can impact the ground surface
  • lowered local groundwater levels
  • possible chemical contamination of groundwater and surface water
  • methane gas leaks adding to the greenhouse effect
  • Risk of minor earth tremors and subsidence from altering the rock underground
  • In 2015 in the USA natural gas overtook coal as the main generator of electricity
  • The carbon footprint of shale gas is about half that of coal and lower than liquefied natural gas
50
Q

Case study - deep water oil in Brazil

How were they created?

A
  • With help from China, the Brazilian state company Petrobras began developing a shush deep-water oilfield discovered in 2006, with estimated reserves or 50 to 80 billion barrels
  • Pilot wells began producing oil in 2010, and in 2015 production reached 885 thousand barrels a day
51
Q

Case study - deep water oil in Brazil

what Is the price for this?

A

investments between 2014 and 2018 will reach 200 and $21 billion

52
Q

Case study - deep water oil in Brazil

Why is deep ocean oil important for Brazil?

A
  • at the present time only 13% of Brazil’s electricity is generated from fossil fuels
  • the oil would help diversify its energy mix
  • provide greater energy security in case drought reduces hydroelectric capacity
  • creating jobs and income from exports
53
Q

Case study - deep water oil in Brazil

What is going wrong?

A
  • By 2016 Petrobras was 100 billion dollars in debt as a result of lower global oil prices
  • the high cost of developing the oilfield
  • political corruption that resulted in job losses and the arrest of politicians
  • new construction activities such as refinery at comp Ridge were delayed
54
Q

Case study - deep water oil in Brazil

Costs:

A
  • costs are high - a special fleet of storage and offloading ships was required at $2 billion each
  • drilling conditions are therefore difficult, with the addition of flammable gases and rock salt layers that flex - the oilfield is 200 to 300 kilometres offshore, where the seabed is at a depth of 2000 metres
55
Q

Case study - deep water oil in Brazil

concerns

A

-there are concerns about oil related activities spoiling the environment and causing oil spills and also about the maintenance of safety equipment

A Level Geography (20 decks)

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