The world's economy depends on oil for a number of things including transportation and manufacturing. Speech topics can include setting gas prices in the United States and around the world, heating homes with oil, creating cars with better fuel efficiency and developing electric cars as an alternative. In speaking about oil and its relationship to manufacturing, speeches can address products made with oil, costs of transporting products and energy costs associated with making items. Speech topics can also inform audiences about the daily price of crude oil, the role OPEC plays in the oil market and countries with the most oil. Speakers can also inform audiences how rising oil prices can affect overall recovery.
Informative speech topics about the environmental issues that surround the oil industry can address environmental disasters connected to oil and the legislation passed to correct future disasters. Speeches can address the largest oil disasters in the world, cleanup costs associated with an oil spill and the steps taken to prevent future spills. Speeches can also focus on tougher drilling regulations and forcing companies to pay cleanup costs. Speakers can also talk about how an oil spill spreads on the water, how to clean up the mess and what roles scientists play to help reduce the damage the oil causes.
Speeches about the oil industry often include political debate regarding alternative energy, taxes and American policy as it relates to oil. Speaking about alternative energy topics can address solar, wind and nuclear power by comparing and contrasting their costs as they relate to using oil. Topics about taxes can focus on informing audiences about taxes paid per gallon of gas, taxes on home heating oil and how taxes on oil pay for projects such as roads and bridges. Informative speeches can also address America's dependence on oil and how that dependence might relate to U.S. policy with other nations as well as the country's own energy policy.
Jobs in the oil industry employ fewer than 100,000 people in the United States, but jobs pay well, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many of these jobs center on the Gulf Coast. Informative speeches can include explaining the kinds of jobs available, applying for jobs and explaining the type of education needed for a successful career. Speech topic can include jobs in drilling, working on an oil rig or designing piping systems for rigs and pipelines. Topics can also address how to apply for jobs, how to put together a resume for the oil industry and how to use a headhunter to get a job. Informative speeches can also tell students about what degrees work best for oil industry jobs such as drafting, engineering and environmental science.