The Sahara DesertThe Sahara Desert

Actio

n Butto

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Case Study: Hassi Messaoud in Algeria

The base is deep within the desert.

Access is difficult so workers travel in and

out by plane.

Hassi Messaoud satellite image

.

The oil base, with 40,000 people,

depends on pumping up

underground water and flying in food

supplies.

From oil rigs they drill down hundreds of metres into the rock to obtain the oil and gas.

Flares burn off surplus oil and gas; at night they can be seen from space!

Pipelines carry the oil hundreds of kilometres to Mediterranean ports on the North African coast.

Is this how we should be using the desert???

MORE INFO

Why does the company need this?

Who might live here?

(what might the houses be like?)

Satellite image of Hassi Massaoud

Oil and gas exploration.

Beneath the sand of the Sahara are layers of sedimentary rock. Trapped within them are oil and gas from the remains of microscopic animals that died millions of years ago.

Slowly, the oil and gas rose until they reached a layer of impermeable rock and could not rise any more. See above.

Finding oil and gas is hard enough. Getting it out of the ground, and taking it to where you want it to be, is even harder!

The cost of producing oil in the Sahara is high. Only large multinational companies, like Shell and BP, can afford the investment.

Why oil and gas are unsustainable

There are big problems with being dependent on fossil fuels like oil and gas: they are NON-RENEWABLE and one day they are going to run out.

Most experts expect the world’s oil to run out some

time in the twenty-first century!

Burning fossil fuels is a major cause of global warming. When they burn, carbon dioxide and other polluting gasses are released into the air.

These gases make the atmosphere retain more heat so it warms the earth.

What is

happening

here?

The Sahara Mining Company is the biggest iron ore exporter in Mali, west Africa. It is located in Tienfala and has iron ore mines stretching over 3000sqkm. 500 million tonnes of iron ore are extracted out of the earth every year. Most of this iron ore is sold and exported to China where there is a massive demand for iron to be made into steel machinery.

Case study: Mineral Extraction

For more information visit this website

Non-renewable energy

These are energy sources

that will eventually run

out. They can do a lot of damage

to the environment

when used to make energy.

CASE STUDY: Energy Production in Algeria

Solar power

Algeria info

The future?

Click on the link that you would like to know more about.

Challenges of Energy Production• The photo shows an oil

plant working through the night. Why do think this is?

• How do aeroplanes relate to energy production? Think of accessibility for workers

CASE STUDY: Energy Production in Algeria

Algeria is a major oil producer and the world’s sixth biggest natural gas producer. Half the country’s export earnings come from oil and gas. Pipelines carry the gas, compressed into a liquid, under the Mediterranean Sea to Spain, Italy and other parts of Europe.

Although reserves should last for many years yet, and there may still be new reserves to find, Algeria is beginning to prepare for the future…

SOLAR POWER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxgaoYZflRc

http://www.desertec.org/en/

The first solar power plant in the Sahara is underdevelopment. Solar power is a renewable source of energy. Unlike fossil fuels, it does not lead to harmful gases in the atmosphere.

The plan covers large areas of desert with solar panels to soak up the Sun’s energy; they will turn solar energy into electricity.

The Desert Tec solar plant development is set to start in 2012. It aims to export energy through cables below the Mediterranean sea to Europe.

CASE STUDY: Energy Production in Algeria

The future:The potential for solar

power is huge. Algeria is the second largest country in Africa and most of it is desert.

CASE STUDY: Energy Production in Algeria

In theory, Algeria alone could produce enough power for Western Europe, sixty times over!

Check out this WEBSITE for more details.

Fighting over oil?!?

Click HERE for a case study of conflict over oil in the desert.

You may have seen this film about an American soldier

fighting in Kuwait.

The story tells how the Americans fought against

Saddam Hussein who wanted to take

over the Kuwaiti oilfields.