OIL

Oil like coal and natural gas, is a fossil fuel. Fuel fossils are made from the remains of dead plants and animals. It is thought that oil comes from tiny plants and animals whose bodies fell in their millions to the seabed when they died. There they were covered by sands and muds, which later hardened into rocks. In the course of millions of years, the plant and animal material underwent chemical changes and eventually turned into oil.
Oil deposit lie hidden deep beneath the surface of the earth. They have to be searched for. Unless the oil actually comes to the surface, it is impossible to be certain that any is present.
The rising demand for oil products keeps the oil companies busy exploring new oil fields, and drilling new wells. Exploration teams are sent to distant regions to search for oil. If the exploration shows good results, the company decides to drill a well. Thus the exploration phase ends, and the production phase begins.
At the beginning of the production phase, gas pressure from below causes the crude oil to gush to the surface with great force. After some time, however, the gas pressure is less and a pumping station must be built to bring up the oil. Wells continue to produce oil for several years, until production becomes so low that they must be abandoned.
Crude oil has to be transported to a refinery to be made into the many products that are useful to man, such as petrol, kerosene, diesel oil, lubricants, asphalt. Further processing gives aviation fuel, greases, fertilizers, insecticides, man-made fibres and many other things.
The oil industry has a very complex and widespread distribution system. Ocean tankers, pipelines, rail tankers, and road tankers are used to bring the oil products to sea ports, inland depots, can and drum factories, and to tens of thousands of petrol stations in cities and along motorways.
More than any other, the oil industry influences the lives of men and women everywhere. From the largest to simples home, whose need may only be kerosene for its lamps and stoves, there is daily need for large quantities of the various oil products.