Quantity or quality

            The price of oil has drastically changed the way that oil companies are handling its production. When the price of oil was high companies were focused on mass production. Trying to pump as much oil as possible because it was very profitable. Now the price of oil has decreased and it is not as profitable you drill multiple wells as it is to drill a few wells and get more oil out of them. Many companies are moving toward technology that make oil wells more efficient. This new technique is call fracking or scouring. The way fracking works is by pumping microbial organisms into the wells. These organisms latch onto the oil particles and separate them allowing them to seep out of the ground with a faster rate. Think about it like a screen window. Big objects can not fit through the screen but when they are broken up then it allows them to slip through the cracks. This picture provided by The Wall Street Journal gives you a much better idea of how it works.

I personally believe that oil companies should have invested in this technique a long time ago. Even though this technique is still not fully developed with a little more research and development these new technologies will make the drilling industry much more effective. I believe that this technology will better society because it will give a greater yield of oil in each well in return allowing oil companies to drill less wells and putting less strain on the environment. I can not think of anyone that would be opposed to investing in this technology because I see it as nothing but beneficial. The other piece of technology that companies are investing in is lasers that can identify drilling cites more accurately then conventional methods. These lasers will allow drillers to see where the best place to drill is that will give the well the most yield. I think that once these methods are perfected it will will bring the price of oil down for consumers even more benefiting the consumer in this tough economy.

Sider, Alison, and Erin Ailworth. "Oil Companies Tap New Technologies to Lower Production Costs." Http://www.wsj.com/. The Wall Street Journal, 13 Sept. 2015. Web. 20 Sept. 2015. <http://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-companies-tap-new-technologies-to-lower-production-costs-1442197712>.