Petroleum – Oil and Natural Gas

Uses for Petroleum

Where would we be without petroleum? You can kiss lipstick goodbye!

Not only does petroleum provides fuel to run our vehicles, cook our food, heat our homes and generate electricity, it is also used in plastics, medicines, food items, and countless other products, from aspirin to umbrellas, and yes—lipstick! Transportation needs use 66% of all available petroleum to fuel cars, buses, trucks and jets. That means 34% of oil is used for all the other items that make our daily lives easier. Most people have no idea how often they come in contact with things made from oil or natural gas.

Here are some of the many items made from petroleum

Artificial Hearts
Aspirin
Balloons
Bandages
Blenders
Cameras
Candles
CD Players
Clothing
Compact Discs/DVDs
Computers
Containers
Crayons
Credit Cards
Dentures
Deodorant
Digital Clocks
Dyes

Fertilizers
Food Preservatives
Footballs
Furniture
Garbage Bags
Glasses
Glue
Golf Balls
Hair Dryers
Hang Gliders
House Paint
Ink
Insecticides
Life Jackets
Lipstick
Luggage
Medical Equipment
Medicines

MP3 Players
Pantyhose
Patio Screens
Perfumes
Photographic Film
Photographs
Piano Keys
Roller Blades
Roofing
Shampoo
Shaving Cream
Soft Contact Lenses
Surfboards
Telephones
Tents
Toothpaste
Toys
Umbrellas

Meeting Higher Demands for Petroleum

In areas of the world that are still developing, businesses and individuals are demanding greater mobility for themselves and their products. World vehicle ownership is projected to increase from 122 vehicles per thousand people in 1999 to 144 vehicles per thousand in 2020, with the largest growth occurring in developing nations. The total consumption of liquid fuels worldwide is expected to increase by 25% from 2006 to 2030.

World population is currently around 6 billion people but is expected to grow to approximately 7.6 billion by 2020. That will mean a huge increase in the demand for transportation fuels, electricity and many other consumer products made from oil and natural gas.

Advanced technology helps the oil and gas industry find the energy resources the world needs. Technology advances enable more accurate drilling and extraction of a higher percentage of oil and gas from each field, extending the life of each well. Advanced technology also allows engineers to tap sources that were once impossible, such as deep-sea fields and oil and gas in very deep reservoirs. Together, these new sources of oil and gas will replace production from existing wells as they decline and help to assure adequate oil and gas supplies to meet world energy needs for the foreseeable future.

Reducing the Environmental Impact of Fossil Fuel Consumption

Substantial work will be required to address the impact of oil and gas consumption, notably the emission of carbon dioxide as a major byproduct. Among the proposed solutions to this problem is the sequestration, or storage, of carbon dioxide in old oil and gas fields. Storage of carbon dioxide from power plants and other industrial facilities would require collecting and processing the gas, compressing it to high pressures, and then injecting it into the small spaces between rock grains deep below the surface. Here, the key challenge is capturing and storing the CO2 emissions on a sustainable scale in a  reliable and cheap manner.