For this assignment, need to apply what you have learned about the ocean floor, gas formation, and drilling to make a decision about an offshore oil rig location. You were recently hired by an oil and gas company who has been repeatedly sued and has a record of incompetence. Many jobs in the company depend on you for a successful well. If the company goes under, the entire community which relies on the salaries of your workers will likely become a ghost town. The company has no more money for oil exploration but has acquired four sites which are currently permitted for drilling. You have been given these four locations (Alaska, South Carolina, Texas- Gulf of Mexico, and California) as potential drill sites by your team of company workers. You will need to evaluate the four sites and choose the one that will give you the best chance of not bankrupting your new parent company and preserve the standard of living for the employees who work there. The locations are linked below as pictures that you will use in your animation as a background.
Think about the types of seafloor structures, the type of rock you’re drilling through, and the location of the drill site for your evaluation. You may use any type of animation software you wish, but I recommend using Scratch ( website developed by MIT is an easy-to-use programming system where you can animate pictures into an animated video. So, construct your program making it interactive or just playing automously, we highly recommend that you do the tutorial called “Getting Started with Scratch”. It will come up on the right side of the screen when you start in scratch. Once your video is complete you can share your video with us by clicking the “share” button. On the share screen, click on “copy the link” and then list the link.
Remember, when choosing a location for your oil site, look closely at the geology of the four locations.
Background tip: to import your picture as a background simply click the icon that looks like a folder with an up arrow coming out. This icon is located on the far left of the page under the video area, next to the sprite selection box. Images are linked below.
Attach the following for the assignment:
Part I. Provide a link to the Scratch you created. The file should minimally contain the background of the site you have chosen, and animation showing the layer to drill to obtain the oil and gas.
Part II. Answer the following questions.
1. What site did you choose and why? (include in your rationale why the oil would be accessible in this location)
2. What type of rock did you have drill into? Why?
3. Why does the layering of the rocks make a difference when drilling for oil?
4. How does your drilling affect the local marine life? What are the benefits? What are the risks?
5. Does it seem worth it to do offshore drilling? Explain.
