it is made up of organic material, formed millions of years ago from dead plants and animals. deep in the ground pressure and heat transformed them into oil. crude oil is in its natural state. many other products are made out of petroleum. every day our planet consumes about 90 million barrels of oil. because oil needs millions of years to develop we will run out of the energy, which we so much depend on.
Histoty of oil
oil has been used in one from or another over thousands of years but it has become really important to our economy in the last 2 centuries. it has been the most important source of energy since the end of world war II
the first oil well was created in the middle of the 19th century in Pennsylvania. by 1870 oil production had spread to other american states. during the latter part of the 19th century oil was also produced in Canada and in European countries.
the automobile boom of the early 20th century led to a higher demand of oil. It played an important role as the main fuel for tanks and planes in the two world wars. by 1950 the united states had become the world's largest oil producer. In the second part of the 20th century Saudi Arabia and Russia produced even more than the USA.
today more than 90 percent of all vehicles are powered by oil products. It is the most important source of energy in our world. About 80% of the world's oil reserves are located in the middle east. Other notable producers are Venezuela, Great Britain and Indonesia.
Whet petroleum is made out of
Crude oil consists mainly of hydrocarbons, a combination of hydrogen and carbon. Each deposit of petroleum has a different combination of hydrocarbons, thus making it a thicker or thinner liquid. it also has sulphur, nitrogen and other elements in it.