Question

The world is consuming approximately 87 million barrels of oil per day.

(a) At this rate of consumption, how long will the known world oil reserves of 1.653 × 10^12
barrels last?
(b) Uganda has recently discovered a large deposit of oil in the Lake Albert basin. It is
estimated that this deposit holds as many as 6 billion barrels of oil. In how much time
would this amount be consumed by worldwide demand?

Answer 1

Explanation:

(a) 1.653 x 10^12 / 87 * 10^6

= (1.653 / 87) x (10^12 / 10^6)

= 0.019 x 10^6

= 1.9 x 10^4

or 19,000 days.

(b) 6 billion / 87 million

= 6,000,000,000 / 87,000,000

= 6000/87

= 69 days.