For years, Man has been drilling holes in the ocean bed for oil and gas, two important energy sources. When there are little resources left on land, people start investigating and harnessing the oocean. This happened in the area of energy; many large companies hire geologists, scientists and divers to seek out potential drilling sites, spending millions of dollars searching for and testing locations, all to find a site for a new drilling plant. Often, huge sums of money are expended on searching alone, but the tests fail and no good site is found; a sad waste, but it serves to show how desperate we are for non-renewable resources.

Oil platforms continually pump out oil from undersea bodies through a long drill, producing large amounts of oil. The financial input required to build and maintain one is very great, so proper investigation of the site must be conducted first, to prevent a huge waste of money. Gas platforms work similarly, except they mainly extract methane gas. Both oil and gas contribute to pollution, in the form of air pollution when burnt. Gas is mainly methane, so burning it would contribute to the greenhouse effect. Oil can escape from small pockets not feasible to mine, causing a slick, or run off from mining equipment into the water. The extraction processes for both oil and gas also release toxic chemicals into the water which can harm organisms and accumulate.

The US and other countries have passed laws banning oil drilling to a certain extent; fears are that the drilling causes pollution which of course is not desired. However, oil drilling is unlikely to stop entirely as the world needs oil for the operation of vehicles and many other uses.