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This article is an overview of the Crude Oil Market. It includes information on the history, environmental effects, oil pricing and the future outloook of the Crude Oil market.

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The future of crude oil is uncertain as of now, there are many different directions and outcomes, however there is a most likely scenario which we can discuss. I will be discussing what I think the future of crude oil will be and what effects it will have on the world. But before going into that I am going to discuss what will happen leading up to my predicaments.

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Oil is one of three fossil fuels found in the earth's surface formed about 300 millions of years ago before the time of the dinosaurs during the Carboniferous Period. At the time, the land was covered with swamps filled with huge trees, ferns, large leafy plants and rich vegetation. The oceans were filled with algae another form of vegetation made up of billions of tiny plants. On the land, as the trees and plants died and fell to the bottom of the swamp, they formed layers of a spongy material known as peat.

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Our modern world requires a lot of petroleum products to function. From cars to planes to massive transportation of goods and services, every day of use is a further strain on the crude oil supply available to the planet. It is imperative that we manage that supply to the best of our ability. Here are some reasons why we must pay close attention to managing this key resource.

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The continent Australia can be seen as having the unluckiest hand in the geological draw. Instead of being a part of Pangea, the large mass that other continents broke off from millions of years ago, Australia was part of a super-continent situated closely to the South Pole, Gwondanaland. It has experienced a drift over the past millennia, but to a less amiable position than most, to a latitude where dry and arid temperatures are the norm. While other continents experienced tectonic fluctuations that promoted fossil fuel formation, Australia continued to remain the driest of all continents, a hard and rough landscape, more conducive to coal formation than to the formation of crude oil deposits. In fact, Australia continues to be the largest exporter of coal (mostly to China), but their oil reserves started at the smallest of amounts at nine billion barrels, about half a percent of the world's supplies. Luckily, Australia possesses quite a small population due to its harsh landscape and oil usage has been pretty conservative.

Australia has been mostly self-sufficient with its oil production and usage, as 85% of the oil used is domestically produced. However, reserves are dwindling as oil usage is on the rise. Estimates show that by 2010, Australian oil supplies will only provide 42% of their need and will be forced to import the difference, mostly form Middle Eastern reserves. The population of Australia has experienced 300% growth since 1945, but mostly to the coastal cities, while its rural populations have dwindled. The cities are heavily motor vehicle dependent, making need for oil supplies to increase. Because Australia is an island quite separated from other continents, transport of imports to their population is very costly. Transportation of all products throughout Australia is dominated by semis and eighteen-wheelers. As a result, oil dependence continues to grow.

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