[John@cone.fsnet.co.uk (OP)]

In rgards to a question asked on the BBC Eastern region radio on 13th Oct about how they extract oil from the ground, the answer i already knew. It got me wondering given the 100's of million barrels of crued oil extracted from around the world each day, if they all use water to displace the oil and fill the voids in the earths sub terrain, would this have any effects on the rising oceans in regards to gloal warming? To me it would be like pulling the plug out of the bathtub and water levels should remain about the same. Any views on this.

[harrypalmer]

Hi there,

My guess would be that the 100s of millions of barrels of crude would be merely a drop in the ocean (no pun intended).

To raise the sea level at all I suspect takes humungous amounts of water.

[chris]

I think that what's in the oceans amounts to about 1% of the Earth's total water. There's a hell of a lot more underground and in the atmosphere.

Chris

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx

[harrypalmer]

Apparantly the estimated amount of water in natural reservoirs is 1.46e21 cubic litres.

About 97% is in the Oceans rest in ice/snow, lakes, rivers, atmosphere etc.

This site gives a good breakdown, seems figures vary a little.

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html [nofollow]

Mark

[daveshorts]

They do often pump water in under the oil to get the last of the oil out, but I think this will be a very small effect compared to the amount the oceans are rising.