Petroleum
Juan Garcia
What is Petroleum?
Petroleum is a fossil fuel cause it was formed by tiny sea plants and animals that died a million years ago, when they died they sinked to the bottom of the ocean. They were buried thousands of feet and and compressed by dozens of layers of sand and compressed alot and soon made petroleum. Petroleum is often a crude oil or an oil and is non-renewable. The petroleum deposits are locked in porous rocks like a sponge. We can not make new petroleum reserves.
Producing Petroleum
Geologists look at the types of rocks and the way they are arranged deep underground and if they look like they may hold petroleum. Even with the new technology finding petroleum is still very expensive and hard. When scientists think there might be oil in a specific location, the petroleum company brings a drilling rig and raises an oil derrick that holds everything they need to drill a hole and find some oil. If oil is found, the pump moves the oil through the pipe. The main petroleum producers are United States, Canada, and Russia but Saudi Arabia is the 1st major oil reserve Canada being second.
Who uses petroleum?
United States
Every country uses petroleum. The top three consumers of petroleum are as follows. United States being first with purchasing about 20.5 million barrels a day.
China
China is second with about 6.5 million barrels a day.
Japan
Japan is third with about 5.4 million barrels a day.
Petroleum products
Things we use everyday
Gasoline
Diesel fuel
Kerosene
Ethane gas
Jet fuel
Machinery lubricants
Wax (like for packaging)
Paraffin wax (candles)
Hydrocarbon polymers (plastics. Literally anything you own that is made of plastic came from petroleum)
Aromatic hydrocarbons
pharmaceutical chemicals
Sulfuric acid can be made using derivatives of petroleum
Peak Oil - Visually Explained