Crowdsourcing a curriculum for the new Oil & Gas 20 and 30 high school classes
The columnists with the Leader-Post and StarPhoenix were aghast that the oil and gas sector would have input into crafting a course. To hell with them. This is an opportunity.
Will you help?
Wow. Totally an opportunity and your course outline looks very detailed and highly interesting. I wonder if a small section on the politics of oil would be worthy of discussion? Just spitballin’…
I don’t have the expertise to contribute much in that field but I think I wouldnt mind one bit going back to high school and taking that course.
Brian, it’s a good start. But you need some context. Any course for high school students needs to understand:
1. why oil and gas is needed on a global, national provincial basis;
2. and how much;
3. what is oil and gas used for: i..e. products, services.;
4. what did oil and gas replace, and what can be substituted for oil and gas;
5. what is the importance of oil and gas to Canada’s, Saskatchewan’s economy.
Unless they understand why a thing is important, the details of its production are largely irrelevant. So, give them the “why” which is the direction of my five items.
Here is a sixth reason, that would need to be subtly conveyed by a better thinker than me. It could be the larger context. To wit:
Oil and gas are actually “green” gifts of mother nature, discovered by grace and ingenuity, as though God loved us and wanted us to have a way to develop a civilization and ways to live in dignity on this otherwise harsh planet.
BINGO.
the fact there is so much some under enormous pressure the baloney about ‘rotted dinosaurs’ DOESNT CUT IT
so what if swamp gas exists. what does it do? immediately dissipates and millions of years to do so.
l rejected that explanation in my teens
otoh geological origin is open ended. kinda like what we’ve got.
They can teach flat-earth and electric universe while they’re at it.
Hydrocarbons are natural geological formations that are renewable. Titan has oceans of the stuff. Old dry wells are full again. I remember during the big blow out in the Gulf with BP there were people saying there’s millions of barrels of oil leached into the oceans naturally every year while the ecotards were running around screaming it was the end and the grifter in chief, Obama shook down BP for $20B.
No money in natural.
No doubt the ‘Phoenix’ and the ‘Post’ wonder why nobody reads their ”shit” anymore.
Self explanatory!!
I heard a few days back from our environazi minister in ottawa that ”peak oil’ was set to occur in 2030 rather than 2050. Or later!
”peak media” occurred some years back.
Perhaps I missed it, but you should hit the “peak oil” stuff head on. As I understand it there are huge areas of the world that have had little exploration, other areas, like our Pacific coast are closed for political reasons but could be opened in the future, so there will be lots of oil and gas to develop far into the future. Another general point, people need to understand the enormous amounts of wealth that are produced from oil and gas development. If you want hospitals, schools, roads and on and on, you need oil and gas. Most human economic activities produce very little extra wealth that can be used for the public good.
I’ve never taken Dan McTeague seriously as he has been a life long liberal and member of Parliament, but in recent times he has unabashedly broken ranks with his former boss on Trudope’s new green deal bullshit. Listening to him on Talk 640 he pulls no punches on where Canada is headed if we continue down this insane path .
Excellent start. Refreshing idea to teach something practical and measureable, rather than the vague feel-good pap that passes for education these days. Let the students decide. Bet there is alot of uptake for this course.
Brilliant! Thank you Brian. A few suggestions…
– how is oil moved? Why such reluctance for pipelines? Who benefits by the various methods of moving oil?
– refined gas goes stale — you can’t store it for long. That’s one of the reasons refineries are built along sea shipping routes.
– products for oil go way beyond energy… textiles and plastics come to mind.
Please link us to LP and SP articles… I will bring down my wrath upon these parasites.
I’ve been meaning to write that column for a month. Maybe next week. It’ll have the links.
The focus is on upstream oil production in Saskatchewan. But yes, maybe more attention is needed to transportation.
And I’ve often pointed out that thing about gas going old. Crude oil is basically stable – its’ been that way for 60 to 300 million years. But once you refine it, it has a shelf life.
Nice coverage of the industry.
In section 26,Creative accounting for workers.
Taxes need to be part of this, as the perverse incentives on income and overtime can only be mitigated by careful pretax planning..
Plan for the institutional theft.
Plan to be a loss if self employed.
Sad and slightly dishonest, but this is our times.
One of the major burnout causes of willing workers,is the tax bite.
What was the point of mastering the skills if you are unprepared for the theft of that return on your labour.
And it has become increasingly difficult to retain the most skilled tradesmen through to job completion,as they are penalized should they work too many hours..
I would suggest basic geology. That might help dispel myths like “fracking lights the rivers on fire” and other assorted bs. Energy density of solar, wind, various hydrocarbons and uranium. Show the math behind why “renewables” cannot and will not be sufficient to run a modern economy.
Yup, basic geology is right at the front. I would likely ask the folks I know at the Saskatchewan Geological Survey to contribute.
It’s all about the rocks, after all.
and why the “renewables” are not renewable without coal, oil and gas.
Brian, great work!
Some suggestions.
“Before petroleum” – what came before the modern oil industry? It wasn’t until I read “Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.” that I realized whale oil preceded petroleum for light, industrial lubrication and soap. True to form, when whale oil became scarce humanity found a way to turn a nuisance into thriving industry, and saved whales from extinction! Maybe stretch the theme into “After Petroleum”, discussing the futility of replacing petroleum before a real supply crisis drives humanity to find its true replacement, and what would that look like?
Your H2S safety comment took me back to my work term days at Clarkson Refinery, Oakville, ON. As students we received the same safety training as full employees. The videos have stayed with me decades later. Maybe consider getting access to current refinery training materials for your syllabus.
Good Luck!
Course content looks great. It would be nice to see it available online for the general populations to get educated. This kind on content should be mandatory and civics. People wouldn’t be hoodwinked so easily.
Course outline looks VERY good to me Brian.
An excellent OverView of the Oil Industry & especially like the addition of the Most commonly reqd. Safety Courses.
Very Cool…and NEEDED. I hope Alberta follows suit.