Petroleum Products

Petroleum is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons that occur on Earth in liquid, gaseous, or solid form. The term is often restricted to the liquid form, commonly called crude oil. But, as a technical term, petroleum also includes natural gas and the viscous or solid form known as bitumen, which is found in tar sands.

Usage Of Petroleum Fuel Oil

Petroleum is used to make gasoline, an important product in our everyday lives. It is also processed and part of thousands of different items, including tires, refrigerators, life jackets, and anesthetics.

The Chemistry Of Petroleum

Crude oil is composed of hydrocarbons, which are mainly hydrogen (about 13% by weight) and carbon (about 85%). Other elements such as nitrogen (about 0.5%), sulfur (0.5%), oxygen (1%), and metals such as iron, nickel, and copper (less than 0.1%) can also be mixed in with the hydrocarbons in small amounts. The way molecules are organized in the hydrocarbon is a result of the original composition of the algae, plants, or plankton from millions of years ago. The amount of heat and pressure the plants were exposed to also contributes to variations that are found in hydrocarbons and crude oil. Due to this variation, crude oil that is pumped from the ground can consist of hundreds of different pet

Classification By Geography

Oil is drilled all over the world. However, there are three primary sources of crude oil that set reference points for ranking and pricing other oil supplies: Brent Crude, West Texas Intermediate, and Dubai and Oman. Brent Crude is a mixture that comes from 15 different oil fields between Scotland and Norway in the North Sea. These fields supply oil to most of Europe. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a lighter oil that is produced mostly in the U.S. state of Texas. It is “sweet” and “light”—considered very high quality. WTI supplies much of North America with oil. Dubai crude, also known as Fateh or Dubai-Oman crude, is a light, sour oil that is produced in Dubai, part of the United Arab Emi