Word: bbl
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...delayed by environmental worries. Fishermen have long sought assurances that the bank, vital to Massachusetts' $500 million-a-year catch, would be protected from even the slightest risks of pollution. Oilmen, who estimate that there may be 180 million to 650 million bbl. of oil and from 1.2 trillion to 4.2 trillion cu. ft. of natural gas in the region, sought to calm the fishermen's fears by promising to take proper precautions against leaks and spills. The Interior Department tried to counter objections by reducing the size of the proposed sale from 155 tracts to 128 covering...
...U.S.S.R. plays a crucial role because its oil resources are so immense. During the past decade, the Soviet Union has become the world's largest petroleum producer (slightly more than 4 billion bbl. in 1977, v. 3.29 billion bbl. for second-place Saudi Arabia). At the same time, in a little-noticed development, Moscow has become the world's third largest oil exporter, behind only Saudi Arabia and Iran. In 1977 the Russians sold an estimated 1.2 billion bbl. to a thirsty world. Though 57% of their exported oil goes to Eastern Europe at prices...
Because the Kremlin treats reserves as state secrets, it is not easy to project production figures. According to the latest estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey, Soviet proven and estimated onshore reserves stand at an impressive 80 billion bbl. The main problem is that the most promising reserves are located in barren, inhospitable areas where drilling is extremely difficult. In the western Siberian fields, tall drilling rigs perch precariously on unstable peat that freezes rock hard in winter and heaves and shifts in summer...
...refuse to disclose precise data about reserves; because large parts of the country have not been thoroughly surveyed by oil geologists, the Chinese themselves probably have only imprecise figures. The lowest foreign estimate of Chinese reserves, a 1977 guess by the American Petroleum Institute, puts them at 20 billion bbl.; if those reserves were proven, China would rank ninth in the world. The CIA has a far higher estimate: 39 billion bbl. below dry land and perhaps that much offshore-a grand total that would place China neck and neck with the Soviet Union for second place, behind Saudi Arabia...
China's production, although modest in comparison with its estimated reserves, has multiplied roughly six times in the past decade. In 1977, by Western estimates, it reached 1.8 million bbl. a day, edging ahead of Indonesia in output. Because they are beginning to convert their industries from coal to oil. the Chinese keep most of the oil for themselves. Only 10% of the nation's production is exported, mostly to Japan to finance the purchase of much-needed industrial and technological equipment. China's aim is to quadruple production, to roughly 8 million bbl...