At that point the fluid-dynamics equivalent of a titanic arm-wrestling match will get under way, with the surface vessels' pumps trying to push the mud down the well while the rising oil tries to push it out.

ECONOMIST: The Gulf oil spill

To succeed, he will have to travel some 700 miles in temperatures cold enough to freeze the fluid in his nose and eyes, pulling the equivalent of two Sumo wrestlers up and down steep ridges while trying to avoid lethal gaps in the ice.

BBC: Sir Ranulph Fiennes: Up the Pole

The Department of Energy estimates the amount of fluid hydrocarbons remaining in the Earth's crust is the equivalent of 7.6 trillion barrels of oil.

FORBES: The Big Plunge