Oil and Natural Gas

Oil and natural gas are essential to most people’s daily lives, even though they may not realize it. Thousands of everyday products are made from oil or oil byproducts. Without oil and natural gas, your life would be significantly different than it is today.

What are oil and natural gas?

Oil and natural gas together make petroleum. Petroleum, which is Latin for “rock oil,” is a fossil fuel, meaning it was made naturally from decaying prehistoric plant and animal remains. It is a mixture of hundreds of different hydrocarbons—molecules containing hydrogen and carbon—that exist sometimes as a liquid (crude oil) and sometimes as a vapor (natural gas). Read more.

How is petroleum formed?

Petroleum and natural gas are formed from animals and plants that lived millions of years ago when heat/pressure turned decayed matter into crude oil.They are part of fossil fuels family, found underground or under seabed floor by drilling. Natural gas is usually found near petroleum. Oil is then transported to refineries and distilled into fuel or base chemical products. Natural gas is pumped from below ground and travels in pipelines to storage areas. Read more.

How is petroleum found?

Through the early 1900s, finding oil and gas was largely a matter of luck. Early explorers looked for oil seeps to the surface, certain types of rock outcrops, and other surface signs that oil might exist below ground. This was a hit-or-miss process. But science and technology quickly developed to improve the industry’s ability to determine what lies below the ground. Seismic technology uses the reflection of sound waves to identify subsurface formations. Read more.

Where is petroleum found?

The oil and natural gas that power our homes, transportation, and businesses are found in small spaces (called “pores”) between layers of rock deep within the earth.Petroleum is produced in more than 100 countries around the world. Most of those countries produce both oil and natural gas; a few produce only natural gas. Read more.

How is petroleum extracted?

Geologists study rocks on the Earth’s surface and underground. They make a map of the rocks where they think oil and gas might be found. Engineers use the geology map to drill a well under the Earth’s surface using a rig.If successful, the well will bring a steady flow of oil and gas to the surface. After the rig is removed, a pump is placed on the well head. An electric motor drives a gear box that moves a lever. The lever pushes and pulls, forcing the pump up and down, and creates a suction that draws up the oil.

History of petroleum

Around 3,000,000 years ago, during the Stone Age, vast underground oil reserves seep to the surface in sticky black pools and lumps, called bitumen. Hunters used bitumen (also called pitch or tar) to attach flint arrowheads to their arrows. About 70,000 years ago, prehistoric people discovered that oils burn with a bright steady flame. Read more.

Uses for petroleum

Petroleum provides fuel to run our vehicles, cook our food, heat our homes, and generate electricity.Transportation needs require 66% of all available petroleum to fuel cars, buses, trucks, and jets.That means 34% of oil is used for items such as plastics, medicines, food items, and countless other products from aspirin to soccer balls. Most people have no idea how often they come in contact with things made from oil or natural gas. Read more.

Demand for petroleum

Total demand for oil by 2030 is expected to be 50% higher than today. Forecasts indicate that much of this oil demand will be for transportation use, where there are few alternatives to petroleum. Many alternative solutions , such as ethanol and biodiesel, produced from energy crops are expected to help meet this large demand. There is also a push to develop vehicles that run on alternative fuels such as electricity, natural gas, and propane. Hybrid-electric vehicles, for example, combine the benefits of gasoline engines with electric motors, reducing the amount of fuel required.

Use this presentation to learn more about gasoline prices and supply.

Oil pros and cons

Pros

Transportation fuel for the world
Basis of many products, from prescription drugs to plastics
Economical to produce

Cons

High C02 emissions
Found in limited areas
Supply may be exhausted before natural gas/coal resources
Possible environmental impact from drilling/transporting

Learn about Edwin Laurentine Drake, who is considered the petroleum entrepreneur of the oil industry.