15 Facts About Petroleum

Petroleum, known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations.

Petroleum's achievements included the discovery of how to distill kerosene from seep oil, the invention of the modern kerosene lamp, the introduction of the first modern street lamp in Europe, and the construction of the world's first modern oil well (1854).

Petroleum makes up 40 percent of total energy consumption in the United States, but is responsible for only 1 percent of electricity generation.

Petroleum includes not only crude oil, but all liquid, gaseous and solid hydrocarbons.

Petroleum is used mostly, by volume, for refining into fuel oil and gasoline, both important "primary energy" sources.

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Petroleum is the raw material for many chemical products, including pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, and plastics; the 16 percent not used for energy production is converted into these other materials.

Petroleum is found in porous rock formations in the upper strata of some areas of the Earth's crust.

Petroleum is mainly a mixture of hydrocarbons, i e containing only carbon and hydrogen.

Petroleum is a fossil fuel derived from ancient fossilized organic materials, such as zooplankton and algae.

Petroleum industry, known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation, and marketing of petroleum products.

Petroleum is the raw material for many chemical products, including pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, synthetic fragrances, and plastics.

Petroleum is vital to many industries, and is necessary for the maintenance of industrial civilization in its current configuration, making it a critical concern for many nations.

Petroleum is a naturally occurring substance, its presence in the environment need not be the result of human causes such as accidents and routine activities.

Petroleum production is tightly linked with conflict: whether through direct aggression such as the U S invasion of Iraq, trade wars such as the 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war, or by fueling conflict in regions such as funding Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the Syrian civil war.

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is an intergovernmental organization of 13 countries.