Where is oil

But it is clear that we either need to research alternative resources. Or use our current resources even more efficiently than ever before. Economically shipping is an essential and efficient means of goods transport, but environmentally the future of shipping raises some serious concerns. Find out more. The Fast Facts On Crude Oil Crude oil is a naturally occurring fossil fuel - meaning it comes from the remains of dead organisms. Crude oil is made up of a mixture of hydrocarbons - hydrogen and carbon atoms.

It exists in liquid form in underground reservoirs in the tiny spaces within sedimentary rocks. Or it can be found near the surface in oil sands. It is often found alongside natural gas and saline water. Crude oil is often interchangeably referred to as petroleum. This is because petroleum includes both the unrefined crude oil as well as refined petroleum products. Where does crude oil come from? How deep underground is crude oil? How do you know where to find oil?

Which country has the most oil? The top five oil producing countries in to date are: USA 17 million barrels per day. Russia 12 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia 10 million barrels per day. Canada 6 million barrels per day. Iraq 5 million barrels per day. How much oil is left in the world? What happens if we run out of oil? We strive to produce innovative products and systems to ensure we match and exceed environmental standards all while delivering the results you deserve.

Find out how we can help you get results - Contact Us If you enjoyed this article please give it a share so others can enjoy it too. Article Date Friday, 15 November Share. You might also like. Reducing Fuel Consumption In Shipping Via Propulsion Efficiency Economically shipping is an essential and efficient means of goods transport, but environmentally the future of shipping raises some serious concerns.

If you would like to submit an enquiry please get in touch. Make an enquiry. Examples of major U. Three types of companies supply crude oil to the global oil market. Each type of company has different operational strategies and production-related goals. International oil companies IOCs , which include ExxonMobil, BP, and Royal Dutch Shell, are entirely investor owned and are primarily interested in increasing value for their shareholders.

As a result, IOCs tend to make investment decisions based on economic factors. IOCs typically move quickly to develop and produce the oil resources available to them and sell their output in the global market. Although these producers must follow the laws of the countries in which they produce oil, all of their decisions are ultimately made in the interest of the company and its shareholders, not in the interest of a government.

NOCs financially support government programs and sometimes provide strategic support. NOCs often provide fuels to their domestic consumers at a lower price than the fuels they provide to the international market. They do not always have the incentive, means, or intention to develop their reserves at the same pace as investor-owned international oil companies.

Because of the diverse objectives of their supporting governments, NOCs pursue goals that are not necessarily market oriented. The goals of NOCs often include employing citizens, furthering a government's domestic or foreign policies, generating long-term revenue to pay for government programs, and supplying inexpensive domestic energy. The NOCs in this category function as corporate entities and do not operate as extensions of their countries' governments. This category includes Petrobras Brazil and Statoil Norway.

These companies often balance profit-oriented concerns and the objectives of their countries with the development of their corporate strategies. Although these companies are driven by commercial concerns, they may also take into account their nations' goals when making investment or other strategic decisions. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC was organized in for the purpose of negotiating with oil companies on matters of oil production, prices, and future concession rights.

Oil and petroleum products explained Where our oil comes from. What is energy? Units and calculators. Use of energy. Energy and the environment. Also in What is energy?

Petroleum that has few metals or sulfur, for instance, tends to be lighter sometimes nearly clear. 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. When petroleum products such as gasoline are burned for energy, they release toxic gases and high amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

Petroleum even exists far below the deepest wells that are developed to extract it. However, petroleum, like coal and natural gas, is a non-renewable source of energy. It took millions of years for it to form, and when it is extracted and consumed, there is no way for us to replace it. Oil supplies will run out. Some experts predict peak oil could come as soon as Finding alternatives to petroleum is crucial to global energy use, and is the focus of many industries.

Formation of Petroleum The geological conditions that would eventually create petroleum formed millions of years ago, when plants, algae, and plankton drifted in oceans and shallow seas. These organisms sank to the seafloor at the end of their life cycle. Over time, they were buried and crushed under millions of tons of sediment and even more layers of plant debris.

Eventually, ancient seas dried up and dry basins remained, called sedimentary basins. Oxygen was almost completely absent in these conditions, and the organic matter began to transform into a waxy substance called kerogen. With more heat, time, and pressure, the kerogen underwent a process called catagenesis , and transformed into hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are simply chemicals made up of hydrogen and carbon.

Different combinations of heat and pressure can create different forms of hydrocarbons. Some other examples are coal, peat , and natural gas. Sedimentary basins, where ancient seabeds used to lie, are key sources of petroleum. More than oil deposits have been discovered in the massive Niger Delta basin, and they comprise one of the most productive oil fields in Africa.

Chemistry and Classification of Crude Oil The gasoline we use to fuel our cars, the synthetic fabrics of our backpacks and shoes, and the thousands of different useful products made from petroleum come in forms that are consistent and reliable. However, the crude oil from which these items are produced is neither consistent nor uniform.

Other elements such as nitrogen about 0. 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 petroleum compounds. It is almost always necessary to refine crude oil in order to make useful products. Classification Oil is classified according to three main categories: the geographic location where it was drilled, its sulfur content, and its API gravity a measure of density.

Classification: 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. 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 Emirates. The nearby country of Oman has recently begun producing oil. Dubai and Oman crudes are used as a reference point for pricing Persian Gulf oils that are mostly exported to Asia. Sulfur in crude oil can corrode metal in the refining process and contribute to air pollution.

Petroleum with more than 0. The API has established accepted systems of standards for a variety of oil- and gas-related products, such as gauges, pumps, and drilling machinery. The API has also established several units of measurement. API gravity is a measure of the density of petroleum liquid compared to water. Light oils are preferred because they have a higher yield of hydrocarbons. Heavier oils have greater concentrations of metals and sulfur, and require more refining. Petroleum Reservoirs Petroleum is found in underground pockets called reservoirs.

Deep beneath the Earth, pressure is extremely high. Petroleum slowly seeps out toward the surface, where there is lower pressure. It continues this movement from high to low pressure until it encounters a layer of rock that is impermeable.

The petroleum then collects in reservoirs, which can be several hundred meters below the surface of the Earth. Oil can also be contained by stratigraphic traps. Different strata, or layers of rock, can have different amounts of porosity. Crude oil migrates easily through a layer of sandstone, for instance, but would be trapped beneath a layer of shale. Geologists, chemists, and engineers look for geological structures that typically trap petroleum.

During the process, a small explosion is set off. Sound waves travel underground, bounce off of the different types of rock, and return to the surface. Sensors on the ground interpret the returning sound waves to determine the underground geological layout and possibility of a petroleum reservoir. The amount of petroleum in a reservoir is measured in barrels or tons.

An oil barrel is about 42 gallons. This measurement is usually used by oil producers in the United States. Oil producers in Europe and Asia tend to measure in metric tons. There are about 6 to 8 barrels of oil in a metric ton. The conversion is imprecise because different varieties of oil weigh different amounts, depending on the amount of impurities. Crude oil is frequently found in reservoirs along with natural gas. In the past, natural gas was either burned or allowed to escape into the atmosphere.

Now, technology has been developed to capture the natural gas and either reinject it into the well or compress it into liquid natural gas LNG. LNG is easily transportable and has versatile uses. Extracting Petroleum In some places, petroleum bubbles to the surface of the Earth. In parts of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, for instance, porous rock allows oil to seep to the surface in small ponds.

However, most oil is trapped in underground oil reservoirs. The total amount of petroleum in a reservoir is called oil-in-place. These petroleum liquids may be too difficult, dangerous, or expensive to drill. Drilling can either be developmental, exploratory, or directional. Drilling in an area where oil reserves have already been found is called developmental drilling. Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, has the largest oil reserves in the United States.

Developmental drilling in Prudhoe Bay includes new wells and expanding extraction technology. Drilling where there are no known reserves is called exploratory drilling. McCarthy struck oil 38 times in the s, earning millions of dollars.

Directional drilling involves drilling vertically to a known source of oil, then veering the drill bit at an angle to access additional resources. Accusations of directional drilling led to the first Gulf War in Iraq accused Kuwait of using directional drilling techniques to extract oil from Iraqi oil reservoirs near the Kuwaiti border.

Iraq subsequently invaded Kuwait, an act which drew international attention and intervention. After the war, the border between Iraq and Kuwait was redrawn, with the reservoirs now belonging to Kuwait. Oil Rigs On land, oil can be drilled with an apparatus called an oil rig or drilling rig. Offshore, oil is drilled from an oil platform. Primary Production Most modern wells use an air rotary drilling rig, which can operate 24 hours a day.

In this process, engines power a drill bit. A drill bit is a cutting tool used to create a circular hole. The drill bits used in air rotary drilling rigs are hollow steel, with tungsten rods used to cut the rock. Petroleum drill bits can be 36 centimeters 14 inches in diameter. As the drill bit rotates and cuts through the earth, small pieces of rock are chipped off. A powerful flow of air is pumped down the center of the hollow drill, and comes out through the bottom of the drill bit.

The air then rushes back toward the surface, carrying with it tiny chunks of rock. Geologists on site can study these pieces of pulverized rock to determine the different rock strata the drill encounters. When the drill hits oil, some of the oil naturally rises from the ground, moving from an area of high pressure to low pressure.

It is also one of the most dangerous, and a piece of equipment called a blowout preventer redistributes pressure to stop such a gusher. Pumps are used to extract oil. Most oil rigs have two sets of pumps: mud pumps and extraction pumps.

Mud pumps circulate drilling fluid. The petroleum industry uses a wide variety of extraction pumps. Which pump to use depends on the geography, quality, and position of the oil reservoir. Submersible pumps, for example, are submerged directly into the fluid. A gas pump, also called a bubble pump, uses compressed air to force the petroleum to the surface or well.

One of the most familiar types of extraction pumps is the pumpjack , the upper part of a piston pump. A crank moves the large, hammer-shaped pumpjack up and down.

Far below the surface, the motion of the pumpjack moves a hollow piston up and down, constantly carrying petroleum back to the surface or well. Successful drilling sites can produce oil for about 30 years, although some produce for many more decades. Other methods are necessary to extract this petroleum, a process called secondary recovery. Vacuuming the extra oil out was a method used in the s and early 20th century, but it captured only thinner oil components, and left behind great stores of heavy oil.

Water flooding was discovered by accident. In the s, oil producers in Pennsylvania noticed that abandoned oil wells were accumulating rainwater and groundwater. The weight of the water in the boreholes forced oil out of the reservoirs and into nearby wells, increasing their production. Oil producers soon began intentionally flooding wells as a way to extract more oil.

The most prevalent secondary recovery method today is gas drive. During this process, a well is intentionally drilled deeper than the oil reservoir.

The deeper well hits a natural gas reservoir, and the high-pressure gas rises, forcing the oil out of its reservoir. Oil Platforms Drilling offshore is much more expensive than drilling onshore. It usually uses the same drilling techniques as onshore, but requires a massive structure that can sustain the tremendous strength of ocean waves in stormy seas.

Offshore drilling platforms are some of the largest manmade structures in the world. They often include housing accommodations for people who work on the platform, as well as docking facilities and a helicopter landing pad to transport workers. The platform can either be tethered to the ocean floor and float, or can be a rigid structure that is fixed to the bottom of the ocean, sea, or lake with concrete or steel legs. More than 70 people work on the platform, in three-week shifts. The platform is meters feet tall and is anchored to the ocean floor.

About , tons of solid ballast were added to give it additional stability. The platform can store up to 1.