TIlls topic begins by taking this idea further. Petroleum not only provides fuels, but is a source of chemicals for making plastics.…
The crude oil pumped out of the ground is black liquid called petroleum. This liquid contains hydrocarbons, and the carbon atoms in crude oil link together in chains of different lengths.…
known as crude oil that is pumped out of the ground. This crude oil, in turn, is created by the…
The oil sands are located within one of the world’s most admired democracies and they represent the largest source of crude oil directly available to the North American Market (pg. 24). The dream of recovering oil from the Alberta bitumen on a commercial basis was born in 1900s, when John Rockefeller was building Standard Oil, that is now known as ExxonMobil. Over the years, many companies took interest, and Sun Oil, began processing bitumen from the oil sands in 1967 (pg. 3).…
Let me tell you a little bit about this chemistry of oil. Oil is a stew of hydrocarbon molecules. It starts of with the very small ones, which are one carbon, four hydrogen -- that's methane -- it just floats off. Then there's all sorts of intermediate ones with middle amounts of carbon. You've probably heard of benzene rings; they're very carcinogenic. And it goes all the way over to these big, thick, galumphy ones that have hundreds of carbons, and they have thousands of hydrogens, and they have vanadium and heavy metals and sulfur and all kinds of craziness hanging off the sides of them. Those are called the asphaltenes; they're an ingredient in asphalt. They're very important in oil spills.…
It all started when earth’s crust began to shift. According to NASA (2013), The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “this movement created spaces between the land called sedimentary basins. These spaces were filled with water, forming oceans and large lakes.” Billions of microscopic life forms, plants, and animals thrived in these basins. Once these plants and animals died, the remains piled up on the basin floor. This organic matter would regularly decay and decompose in the environment, but, when anaerobic conditions are present, conditions where there is no oxygen available, they will be transformed into gases (NASA, 2013). The way this occurs, is through the weight of the future sedimentary layers compressed upon it, eliminating the oxygen present. These sedimentary layers of mud and sand combine with heat within the earth, turning them into rock. As the organic matter is buried deeper and deeper, temperatures can reach up to 100 to 150 degrees Celsius, cooking the organic matter into gooey black soup; oil (NASA, 2013). Oil itself has a very low density compared with many other rocks and fluids, causing it to float or rise above its surrounding formations. Due to this, oil will physically rise through the porous layers of rock, sometimes all the way up to earth’s surface, or when it reaches an impermeable layer (NASA, 2013). This leads to oil naturally seeping…
Gasoline is produced from a dark substance extracted from miles beneath the surface, called crude oil or petroleum. Millions of years ago, crude oil was created from fossil fuels of dead animals and plants that sank into the ocean’s bottom underneath rocks, dirt, and dust. Over time, the seclusion of corpses caused heat and pressure to increase instigating the bodies to decompose; and due to lack of oxygen, the remains formed mixture of chemical organic compounds made of hydrogen and carbon molecules called Hydrocarbons. Petroleum consists of hydrocarbon chains each has its own physical and chemical properties, and length determined by how many carbon molecule present in a hydrocarbon chain. For example, one to four carbons form gases like methane, ethane, propane, and butane. Five to seven carbons produce solvents like cleaning fluids and paint solvents; and seven to eleven carbons form gasoline and other similar fuels. Finally, hydrocarbon chains that consist of more than twelve carbons form heavier fuels like kerosene and diesel. At the end, scientists separate and blend hydrocarbon chains with other additives to enhance the quality of Gasoline.…
The separation of various components of crude oil in refineries is accomplished primarily by taking advantage of differences in which of the following?…
Oil is one of the most important resources that empower the economy. It is mainly used for transportation, cooking, heating, and also electricity generation. Without oil, transportation, manufacturing, and production of food may not be possible. Oil came from fossils and dead organisms that submerged to the bottom of the ocean, or what we so called Oil Wells. It was collected by oil rigs by digging the bottom surface of the ocean. Deepwater Horizon oil spill is one of the biggest and controversial oil spill in the world. In one of the President Barrack Obama’s interview, he stated that “the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced” (Horowitz). This oil spill affected and left significant damage to human, animals, and to the environment that will last not just years, but centuries, or maybe more.…
Petroleum is a necessity for the majority of humans across the world. Petroleum is a natural resource that has few competitors. In recent decades alternative energy sources have been investigated, but the use of petroleum is still ahead of the game as the world’s primary energy source in the use of automobiles, but petroleum is also the main ingredient in plastic. We use plastic everywhere, the structure of our cars, furniture, computers, toys, and the list is endless. Petroleum is also an ingredient in many fertilizers, used in clothing, and carpet backing.…
The discovery of petroleum oil and its origin began in the 1900’s, according to several sources. It’s no secret that oil is one of the most important discoveries and resources ever found by man. We use oil to produce everything from ink to gasoline and without it production our world would be very different. I selected British Petroleum because I knew it had a long history and it would be very challenging for me to write this paper with consistency.…
Crude oil: a complex mixture of hydrocarbons found in layers of rock beneath the earth’s surface…
Have you ever seen an animal covered in sludge, helpless and weak? Offshore oil drilling is one of our world’s biggest concerns. Offshore oil drilling is the discovery of finding oil or gasoline resources underwater. Usually the oil is found off the coasts of each continent and can also be found in lakes and small seas. Drilling for oil provides the energy to make fuels for cars and other machinery. Many different platforms can be used for offshore oil drilling such as drill ships, jack up barges, steel jackets, and semi-submersibles for deeper water areas. The issue at hand is that oil drilling can lead to oil spills into oceans, seas, and lakes and can harm the environment. Barge collisions, explosions, leaks, spills, and pipeline corrosion are all key factors in the harmful effects of oil drilling. Drilling leads to pollution in the environment and kills many organisms and aquatic animals.…
Crude oil is a naturally occurring, unrefined petroleum product composed of hydrocarbon deposits. It is a fossil fuel, meaning that it was made naturally from decaying plants and animals. Crude oils vary in color, from clear to tar-black, and in viscosity, from water to almost solid. Crude oil can be refined to produce usable products such as gasoline, diesel and various forms of petrochemicals and as such, are a useful starting point for many different substances.…
Hydrocarbons - crude oil and natural gas - are found in certain layers of rock that are usually buried deep beneath the surface of the earth. In order for a rock layer to qualify as a good source of hydrocarbons, it must meet several criteria. Characteristics of Reservoir Rock For one thing, good reservoir rocks (a reservoir is a formation that contains hydrocarbons) have porosity. Porosity is a measure of the openings in a rock, openings in which petroleum can exist. Even though a reservoir rock looks solid to the naked eye, a microscopic examination reveals the existence of tiny openings in the rock. These openings are called pores. Thus a rock with pores is said to be porous and is said to have porosity. Another characteristic of reservoir rock is that it must be permeable. That is, the pores of the rock must be connected together so that hydrocarbons can move from one pore to another. Unless hydrocarbons can move and flow from pore to pore, the hydrocarbons remain locked in place and cannot flow into a well. In addition to porosity and permeability reservoir rocks must also exist in a very special way. To understand how, it is necessary to cross the time barrier and take an imaginary trip back into the very ancient past. Imagine standing on the shore of an ancient sea, millions of years ago. A small distance from the shore, perhaps a dinosaur crashes through a jungle of leafy tree ferns, while in the air, flying reptiles dive and soar after giant dragonflies. In contrast to the hustle and bustle on land and in the air, the surface of the sea appears very quiet. Yet, the quiet surface condition is deceptive. A look below the surface reveals that life and death occur constantly in the blue depths of the sea. Countless millions of tiny microscopic organisms eat, are eaten and die. As they die, their small remains fall as a constant rain of organic matter that accumulates in enormous quantities on the…