Oil and Petroleum

Types of oil reserves

2008-03-04T01:40:00.002-08:00

Proven, probable and possible reserves are the three most common categories of reserves used in the oil industry. They are intended to represent the probability that a reserve exists based on the geologic and engineering data and interpretation for a given location, though many governments refuse to disclose verifying data to support their claims.
Proven Reserves - defined as oil and gas "Reasonably Certain" to be producible using current technology at current prices, with current commercial terms and government consent, also known in the industry as 1P. Some industry specialists refer to this as P90, i.e., ideally having a 90% certainty of being produced. Proven reserves are further subdivided into "Proven Developed" (PD) and "Proven Undeveloped" (PUD). PD reserves are reserves that can be produced with existing wells and perforations, or from additional reservoirs where minimal additional investment (operating expense) is required. PUD reserves require additional capital investment (drilling new wells, installing gas compression, etc.) to bring the oil and gas to the surface.
Probable Reserves - defined as oil and gas "Reasonably Probable" of being produced using current or likely technology at current prices, with current commercial terms and government consent. Some Industry specialists refer to this as P50, i.e., ideally having a 50% certainty of being produced. This is also known in the industry as 2P or Proven plus probable.
Possible Reserves - i.e., "having a chance of being developed under favourable circumstances". Some industry specialists refer to this as P10, i.e., ideally having a 10% certainty of being produced in the foreseeable future. This is also known in the industry as 3P or Proven plus probable plus possible.

Oil reserves

2008-03-04T01:40:00.001-08:00

Oil reserves refer to portions of oil in place that are claimed to be recoverable under current economic constraints. In this context, oil refers to conventional oil and excludes oil from coal, oil shale, bitumen and extra-heavy oil (tar sands).[1]
Oil in the ground is not a "reserve" unless it is claimed to be economically recoverable, since as the oil is extracted, the cost of recovery increases incrementally as the amount of oil remaining is reduced. The recovery factor (RF) is the percentage of oil in place which is expected to be economically recoverable under a given set of conditions. (It is therefore important to realize that as the price of oil goes up on the markets, the amount of petroleum in the ground that is economically recoverable goes up, because the oil that is more expensive to get is now recoverable at a profit. As the price goes down, the amount that is economically recoverable goes down. So the amount of oil you can say you have in your SEC statements--i.e. "bookable barrels"--depends on the price of oil on the markets as well as the actual amount of oil in the ground. A large change in price will radically change the amount of oil understood to be part of the reserve, regardless of whether any oil has been lifted from the wells in question or not.)
Oil reserve estimates are ideally a measure of geological and economic risk — of the probability of oil existing and being producible under current economic conditions using current technology. The international authority for reserves definitions is generally the Society of Petroleum Engineers. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission demands that oil companies with exchange listed stock adopt reserves accounting standards that are consistent with common industry practice. However these standards are based on historical production practices and are not always meaningful in dealing with deep-water and non-conventional oil fields that are becoming the source of more and more of the world's oil production. In addition, many of the world's largest oil-producing countries do not follow normal industry standards in estimating their oil reserves and do not publish any data which would allow their estimates to be verified.

High Integrity Protection Systems (HIPS) – Making SIL Calculations Effective

2007-11-29T01:15:00.000-08:00

the oil industry, traditional protection systems as defined in American Petroleum Institute (API) 14C are more and more often replaced by high integrity protection systems (HIPS). In particular, this encompasses the well-known high integrity pressure protection systems (HIPPS) used to protect specifically against overpressure. As safety instrumented systems (SIS) they have to be analysed through the formal processes described in the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61508 and IEC 61511 Standards in order to assess which Safety Integrity Levels (SIL) they are able to claim. What is really important when dealing with safety systems is that the probability of accident is sufficiently low to be acceptable according to the magnitude of the consequences. This can be done in a lot of different ways: applying rules, know-how or standards that may be deterministic, probabilistic, qualitative or quantitative, using reliability analysis and reliability methods and tools, collecting statistics, etc. Among them we find SIL calculations as per IEC 61508 and IEC 61511. Then we have to keep in mind that calculating a SIL is not an end in itself. It is only a tool among many others to help engineers to master safety through the whole life cycle of the safety systems. This proves to be very efficient from organisational point of view but, unfortunately, some problems arise when probabilistic calculations are performed by analysts thinking that it is a very easy job only consisting to apply some magical formulae (found in IEC 61508-Part 6) or to build a kind of ‘Lego’ from certified SILed elements bought from the shelf. Beyond the fact that sound mathematical theorems (Bellman or Gödel) demonstrate that doing it that way gives no guarantee of good results, this is the complete negation of the spirit developed in the reliability field over the last 50 years that is based on a sound knowledge of the probabilistic concepts and in-depth analysis of systems under study. Therefore, a skilled reliability analyst who aims to use the above standards in a clever and compatible way with the traditional analysis has to solve several difficulties: this is simple for the relationship between IEC standards probability concepts and those recognised in the reliability field or for the failure taxonomy and definitions which may need improvements; it is more difficult for handling complex tests and maintenance procedures encountered in oil industry; it is almost impossible for some concepts like the ‘Safe Failure Fraction’ (SFF), which is not really relevant in our field where spurious failures have to be thoroughly considered and avoided.
SIL versus Traditional Concepts
The size of this article being limited, we will only give some indications about our way to manage SIL calculations in an efficient way for oil production installations. Figure 1 shows the links with the traditional concepts. The first protection layer works in continuous mode and the standards impose to calculate its Probability of Failure per Hour (PFH). This is actually an average frequency of failure. When the number of failures over [0, T] is small compared with 1, PFH may be assimilated to F1(T)/T. When this is not the case, T/MTTF shall be used instead. In these formulae F1(T) is the unreliability of this layer over [0,T] and MTTF its classical Mean Time To Fail. Then, in the general cases, PFH cannot be assimilated to a failure rate. Anyway this gives the demand frequency on the second layer, which runs in low demand mode (if the first layer is efficient). Its Probability of Failure on Demand (PFD) as per the standards is in fact its the average unavailability P2. Then F1(T).P2 is the probability that both protection layers fail during a given period T. If there is no more protection layer this is the probability of accident. If a third protection layer is installed this will be is the demand frequency on this layer. Note that the Risk Reduction Factor (RRF) is infinite when working in continuous mode. The standard split, the demand mode between low and high according to the demand frequency (lower or greater than 1/year). From probabilistic calculation point of view we prefer to consider the relationship between test and demand frequencies to do that: when the test frequency is big compared with the demand frequency, PFD may be used, on the contrary it is better to use the unreliability, which provides a conservative estimation. From a failure mode point of view the main problem encountered is that the genuine on demand failures are forgotten by the standards. They are likely to occur when the system experiences sudden changes of states. Therefore, they shall be taken under consideration when calculating the PFD, which comprises both hidden failure (occurring within test intervals) and genuine on-demand failures (due to tests or demands themselves). Another commonly encountered problem is that a superficial reading of the standard leads one to think that every revealed failure becomes automatically safe. This, of course, is not true. It remains unsafe as long as something is done to make it safe. This also has to be considered in the calculations.

Health and Safety issues in the offshore industry – a precautionary tale

2007-11-29T01:11:00.000-08:00

There have been significant improvements in health and safety in the offshore industry since the catastrophic Piper Alpha disaster in 1988, when an explosion and the resulting fire cost the lives of 167 workers. Despite these improvements, risks for the 20000 workforce in the offshore industry are still ever present - fire, explosion and infrastructure failure all have the potential to cause major loss of life.
News on Tuesday evening broke that offshore workers, based 120 miles offshore, had been helicoptered from a semi-submersible drilling rig following an engine fire.
In fact a total of 32 of the 87 personnel were taken off the Ocean Guardian, owned by Diamond Offshore, before the fire was brought under control. Fortunately no-one was injured.
"We have had a fire in the engine room," said a spokesman for Diamond. "As a precaution we began down-manning non-essential personnel."
A fire suppression system was activated when the fire broke out. Innovative water mist systems are in high regard in the industry and are becoming the sought after solution to fire on offshore installations.
With the geographically isolated workforce, as well as the inherent dangers in working offshore, the industry needs the best health and safety management. The quality of management that Diamond Offshore showed through their precautionary evacuation.

Deepwater Activity in the US Gulf of Mexico Continues to Drive Innovation and Technology

2007-11-29T00:59:00.000-08:00

The deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is an integral part of US energy supply and one of the world’s most important oil and gas provinces. As a result of its proximity to key markets and a long history of exploration and development, the region is now seeing a transition towards deeper and more challenging exploration and development, including both deeper water and deeper wells. These trends are the motivation behind a renewed drive towards advancing the state of key technologies.
Growth of US Deepwater:
The distinction between shallow and deepwater can range from 656ft (200m) to 1,500ft (457m) water depth. Here, Minerals Management Service (MMS) information is used, which defines deepwater as water depths greater than or equal to 1,000ft (305m) and ultra-deepwater as water depths greater than or equal to 5,000ft (1,524m).1 As of early 2006, there were 118 deepwater projects on production. Production from deepwater by the end of 2004 was approximately 950,000 barrels of oil and 3.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. More than 980 deepwater exploration wells have been drilled since 1995 and at least 126 deepwater discoveries have been announced from that effort. In the last six years, there have been 22 discoveries in water depths greater than 7,000ft (2,134m), with 11 of those discoveries in the last two years. Approximately one-third of the world’s deepwater rig fleet is committed to GOM service. The average size of a deepwater GOM field discovery is several times larger than the average shallow-water discovery, and deepwater fields are some of the most prolific producers in the GOM. Announced volumes for these deepwater discoveries are more than 1.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE). The growth of activity in the deepwater GOM has accelerated over the last few years, although it has been developing for over two decades. Deepwater production began in 1979 with Shell’s Cognac field, and it took five more years before the next deepwater field (ExxonMobil’s Lena field) came online. Both developments relied on extending platform technology to greater water depths. Over the last 14 years, all phases of deepwater activity have expanded. There are over 8,200 active GOM leases with 54% of those in deepwater. Contrast this with approximately 5,600 active GOM leases in 1992, with only 27% in deepwater. On average, there were 30 rigs drilling in deepwater in 2005 compared with only three rigs in 1992. In the period 1992–2002, deepwater oil production rose by over 840% and deepwater gas production increased by about 1,600%. The Deep Water Royalty Relief Act (DWRRA), which provides economic incentives to develop leases in deepwater, has clearly had a significant impact on deepwater GOM activities. Deepwater exploration and production growth have been enabled by remarkable technology advances over time. These advances continue today, with many new technologies currently in the research phase for future deployment.
Discoveries
Recent discoveries continue to expand the exploration potential of the deepwater GOM. Of total GOM proved reserves, 99% are in Neogene-age and younger reservoirs (Pleistocene, Pliocene and Miocene). However, several recent deepwater discoveries encountered large potential reservoirs in sands of Paleogene age (Oligocene, Eocene and Paleocene). The discovery of these Paleogene-age reservoirs has opened wide areas of the deepwater GOM to further drilling, focused on two frontier plays: the Mississippi Fan Foldbelt and the Perdido Foldbelt. With the drilling of the Trident and Cascade discoveries (AC 903 and WR 206) in 2001 and 2002, the potential for an extensive Lower Wilcox sand extending from Alaminos Canyon to Walker Ridge was established. Deposition of the Lower Wilcox appears to have been largely unaffected by salt tectonics, resulting in a thick sand across a broad geographic area. The Cascade discovery established turbidite sands more than 350 miles downdip of their source deltas in south Texas. Two further subsalt discoveries have been made in the Lower Wilcox: St Malo (WR 678) and Jack (WR 759). To date, there have been five Lower Wilcox and/or Paleogene discoveries in Alaminos Canyon and four Lower Wilcox discoveries in Walker Ridge. The Paleogene-age reservoirs provide a promising exploration trend. However, there are a number of challenges that must be addressed before production can begin. Appraisal wells must be drilled to test reservoir quality and producibility. Other challenges include the completion and production of deep reservoirs in the ultra-deepwater GOM, for which infrastructure must be developed. Successful exploration has also occurred in the eastern GOM with announced discoveries in DeSoto Canyon (Spiderman/Amazon and San Jacinto) and Lloyd Ridge (Atlas, Atlas NW, Cheyenne and Mondo Northwest). At least six of these discoveries encountered Miocene-age reservoirs, and all ten are in water depths greater than 7,800ft (2,378m). The Mississippi Fan foldbelt trend saw three Lower Miocene oil discoveries in 2005: Knotty Head (GC 512), Genghis Khan (GC 652) and Big Foot (WR 29). Chevron’s successful production test at their Tahiti discovery well (GC 640) in 2004 undoubtedly spurred further exploration of the trend. Tahiti tested a structural trap beneath an 11,000ft (3,354m) thick salt canopy. The discovery well produced at a restricted rate of 15 million barrels of oil per day (MBOPD). Rate and pressure analyses indicate that the well may be capable of a sustained flow of as much as 30 MBOPD. Until recently, there had been a gradual increase of drilling depth. However, since 1996 the maximum drilling depth has increased rapidly, reaching true vertical depths (TVDs) just below 30,000ft (9,144m) in 2002. The Transocean Discoverer Spirit drilled the deepest well in the GOM to date: Chevron/Unocal’s Knotty Head discovery in Green Canyon Block 512 at a TVD of 34,157ft (10,411m) in December 2005. This recent dramatic increase in TVD may be attributed to several factors, including enhanced rig capabilities, deeper exploration targets and the general trend towards greater water depths. In the last five years, 12 wells have been drilled in water depths exceeding 9,000ft (2,744m) and, in December 2003, the first well in water depths over 10,000ft (3,050m) was drilled. The water depth drilling record of 10,011ft (3,051m) was set by Chevron in Alaminos Canyon Block 951 in late 2003.
Productivity
High production rates have been a driving force behind the success of deepwater operations. For example, a Shell Bullwinkle well produced approximately 5,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) in 1992. In 1994, a Shell Auger well set a new record, producing about 10,000 BOPD. From 1994 to mid 1999, maximum deepwater oil production rates continued to climb. BP’s Horn Mountain project came online in early 2002 in a water depth of 5,400ft (1,646m), with a single well maximum rate of more than 30,000 BOPD. Since mid 2002, oil production rates have declined in the 1,500–4,999ft (457–1,524m) water-depth interval. However, production rates have increased steeply in the greater than and equal to 5,000ft (1,524m) water-depth interval. The record daily oil production rate (for a single well) is 41,532 BOPD (Troika). In terms of gas production, maximum well rates were around 25 million cubic feet per day (MMCFPD) until a well in Shell’s Popeye field raised the deepwater production record to over 100 MMCFPD in 1996. Since then, the deepwater has yielded even higher maximum production rates. In 1997, Shell’s Mensa field showed the potential for deepwater production rates beyond the 5,000ft (1,524m) waterdepth interval. The record GOM daily gas production rate is 158 MMCFPD (Mensa). The average GOM deepwater oil well currently produces at about 25 times the rate of the average shallow-water oil well, while the average GOM deepwater gas well currently produces at about eight times the rate of the average shallow-water gas well. Subsea Toolkit There were fewer than ten subsea completions per year until 1993, but this number increased dramatically throughout the 1990s. Shallowwater subsea wells began to make up a significant proportion of the total number of GOM subsea wells, accounting for 151 of the 348 subsea wells by year-end 2005. Operators have found subsea tiebacks to be valuable for marginal shallow-water fields because of the extensive infrastructure of available platforms and pipelines. As a result of these factors, there has been an increasing reliance on subsea technology to develop shallow-water and deepwater fields. The technology required to implement subsea production systems in deepwater has evolved significantly in the last 17 years. A water depth of 350ft (107m) was the deepest subsea completion until 1988, when the water depth record for the GOM jumped to 2,243ft or 684m (Green Canyon 31 project). In 1996, another record was reached with a subsea completion in 2,956ft (901m) of water (Mars project), followed by a 1997 subsea completion in 5,295ft (1,614m) of water (Mensa project). Currently, Coulomb has the deepest subsea production in the GOM, in a water depth of 7,591ft (2,313m). Nearly 70% of subsea completions are in water depths of less than 2,500ft (762m). In order for subsea wells to continue to advance to greater water depths and harsher environments, technological improvements are needed. Currently, the industry is working to ensure that new advancements are developed in a safe and environmentally conscientious manner. Technologies currently under evaluation include high-integrity pressure protection systems (HIPPS), high-pressure, hightemperature (HPHT) materials and subsea processing.
High-pressure, High-temperature Future
As deepwater wells are drilled to greater depths, they begin to encounter the same HPHT conditions that shallow-water wells see at shallower depths. HPHT development is therefore one of the greatest technical challenges facing the oil and gas industry today. Materials that have been used for many years now face unique and critical environmental conditions. The industry is working on a number of collaborative fronts to evaluate these issues and to develop appropriate technologies to mitigate potential hazards. Such efforts include joint research, knowledge sharing via industry conferences and focused standards development via technical committees of the American Petroleum Institute (API), National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) and other groups.
Summary
Significant challenges exist for deepwater exploration and development. Deepwater operations are expensive and require significant amounts of time between initial discovery and first production. Despite these challenges, deepwater fields have demonstrated prolific performance with successful developments providing great rewards. In order for growth and deepening trends to continue, technology will be a required point of leverage. It will be required to resolve current gap challenges, such as those posed by HPHT prospects in deepwater, and to bring further cost efficiencies into the exploration, development and production phases.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

2007-11-24T23:34:00.000-08:00

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) covers 19,049,236 acres (79,318 km²) in northeastern Alaska, in the North Slope region. It was originally protected in 1960 by order of Fred A. Seaton, the Secretary of the Interior under U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. As part of Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, the refuge was expanded by the United States Congress in 1980 through the lobbying efforts of Olaus and Margaret Murie, with The Wilderness Society.
Eight million acres (32,375 km²) of the refuge are designated as U.S. Wilderness Area. The 1980 expansion of the refuge designated 1.5 million acres (6,070 km²) of the coastal plain as the 1002 area and mandated studies of the natural resources of this area, especially petroleum. Congressional authorization is required before oil drilling may proceed in this area. The remaining 10.1 million acres (40,873 km²) of the refuge are designated as "Minimal Management," a category intended to maintain existing natural conditions and resource values. These areas are suitable for wilderness designation, although there are presently no proposals to designate them as wilderness.
There are presently no roads within or leading into the refuge, though there are settlements there. On the northern edge of the Refuge is the Inupiaq village of Kaktovik and on the southern boundary the Gwich'in settlement of Arctic Village. A popular wilderness route and historic passage exists between the two villages, traversing the Refuge and all its ecosystem types from boreal, interior forest to Arctic Ocean coast. Generally, visitors gain access to the land by aircraft, but it is also possible to reach the refuge by boat or by walking (the Dalton Highway passes near the western edge of the refuge). In the United States of America, the geographic location most remote from human trails, roads, or settlements is found here, at the headwaters of the Sheenjek River.
Wildworld.
The refuge supports a greater variety of plant and animal life than any other protected area in the circumpolar arctic. A continuum of six different ecozones spans some 200 miles (300 km) north to south.
Along the northern boundary of the refuge, barrier islands, coastal lagoons, salt marshs, and shorebirds. Fish such as dolly varden and arctic cisco are found in nearshore waters. Coastal lands and sea ice are used by caribou seeking relief from biting insects during summer, and by polar bears hunting seals and giving birth in snow dens during winter.
The arctic coastal plain stretches southward from the coast to the foothills of the Brooks Range. This area of rolling hills, small lakes, and north-flowing, braided rivers is dominated by tundra vegetation consisting of low shrubs, sedges, and mosses. Caribou travel to the coastal plain during June and July to give birth and raise their young. Migratory birds and insects flourish here during the brief arctic summer. Tens of thousands of snow geese stop here during September to feed before migrating south, and musk oxen live here year-round.
South of the coastal plain, the mountains of the eastern Brooks Range rise to over 9,000 feet (3,000 m). This northernmost extension of the Rocky Mountains marks the continental divide, with north-flowing rivers emptying into the Arctic Ocean and south-flowing rivers joining the great Yukon River. The rugged mountains of the Brooks Range are incised by deep river valleys creating a range of elevations and aspects that support a variety of low tundra vegetation, dense shrubs, rare groves of poplar trees on the north side and spruce on the south. During summer, peregrine falcons, gyrfalcons, and golden eagles build nests on cliffs. Harlequin ducks and red-breasted mergansers are seen on swift-flowing rivers. Dall sheep and wolves are active all year, while grizzly bears and arctic ground squirrels are frequently seen during summer but hibernate in winter.
The southern portion of the Arctic Refuge is within the boreal forest of interior Alaska. Beginning as predominantly treeless tundra with scattered islands of black and white spruce trees, the forest becomes progressively denser as the foothills yield to the expansive flats north of the Yukon River. Frequent forest fires ignited by lightning result in a complex mosaic of birch, aspen, and spruce forests of various ages. Wetlands and south-flowing rivers create openings in the forest canopy. Neotropical migratory birds breed here in spring and summer, attracted by plentiful food and the variety of habitats. Caribou travel here from farther north to spend the winter. Year-round residents of the boreal forest include moose, lynx, marten, wolverines, black and grizzly bears, and wolves.
Each year, thousands of waterfowl and other birds nest and reproduce in areas surrounding Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk fields and a healthy and increasing caribou herd migrates through these areas to calve and seek respite from annoying pests such as human activity. Oil field facilities have been located and designed to accommodate wildlife and utilize the least amount of tundra surface.
Arctic Refuge drilling controversy.
Because the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is known to contain a large supply of crude oil, the issue of drilling for oil in roughly 2000 of the 19,600,000 acre area has been a debated topic since World War II. The controversy has been a political football for every U.S. President since Jimmy Carter

Oil refinery

2007-11-24T23:28:00.000-08:00

An oil refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosine, and liquefied petroleum gas.[1][2] Oil refineries are typically large sprawling industrial complexes with extensive piping running throughout, carrying streams of fluids between large chemical processing units.
Operation.
Raw oil or unprocessed ("crude") oil is not useful in the form it comes in out of the ground. Although "light, sweet" (low viscosity, low sulfur) oil has been used directly as a burner fuel for steam vessel propulsion, the lighter elements form explosive vapors in the fuel tanks and so it is quite dangerous, especially so in warships. For this and many other uses, the oil needs to be separated into parts and refined before use in fuels and lubricants, and before some of the byproducts could be used in petrochemical processes to form materials such as plastics, and foams. Petroleum fossil fuels are used in ship, automobile and aircraft engines. These different hydrocarbons have different boiling points, which means they can be separated by distillation. Since the lighter liquid elements are in great demand for use in internal combustion engines, a modern refinery will convert heavy hydrocarbons and lighter gaseous elements into these higher value products using complex and energy intensive processes.
Oil can be used in so many various ways because it contains hydrocarbons of varying molecular masses, forms and lengths such as paraffins, aromatics, naphthenes (or cycloalkanes), alkenes, dienes, and alkynes. Hydrocarbons are molecules of varying length and complexity made of only hydrogen and carbon atoms. Their various structures give them their differing properties and thereby uses. The trick in the oil refinement process is separating and purifying these.
Once separated and purified of any contaminants and impurities, the fuel or lubricant can be sold without any further processing. Smaller molecules such as isobutane and propylene or butylenes can be recombined to meet specific octane requirements of fuels by processes such as alkylation or less commonly, dimerization. Octane grade of gasoline can also be improved by catalytic reforming, which strips hydrogen out of hydrocarbons to produce aromatics, which have much higher octane ratings. Intermediate products such as gasoils can even be reprocessed to break a heavy, long-chained oil into a lighter short-chained one, by various forms of cracking such as Fluid Catalytic Cracking, Thermal Cracking, and Hydrocracking. The final step in gasoline production is the blending of fuels with different octane ratings, vapor pressures, and other properties to meet product specifications.
Oil refineries are large scale plants, processing from about a hundred thousand to several hundred thousand barrels of crude oil per day. Because of the high capacity, many of the units are operated continuously (as opposed to processing in batches) at steady state or approximately steady state for long periods of time (months to years). This high capacity also makes process optimization and advanced process control very desirable.
Major products of oil refineries.
Most products of oil processing are usually grouped into three categories: light distillates (LPG, gasoline, naptha), middle distillates (kerosene, diesel), heavy distillates and residuum (fuel oil, lubricating oils, wax, tar). This classification is based on the way crude oil is distilled and separated into fractions (called distillates and residuum) as can be seen in the above drawing.[2]
Liquid petroleum gas (LPG)
Gasoline (also known as petrol)
Naphtha
Kerosene and related jet aircraft fuels
Diesel fuel
Fuel oils
Lubricating oils
Paraffin wax
Asphalt and Tar
Petroleum coke
Common process units found in a refinery.
Desalter unit washes out salt from the crude oil before it enters the atmospheric distillation unit.
Atmospheric Distillation unit distills crude oil into fractions. See Continuous distillation.
Vacuum Distillation unit further distills residual bottoms after atmospheric distillation.
Naphtha Hydrotreater unit uses hydrogen to desulfurize naphtha from atmospheric distillation. Must hydrotreat the naphtha before sending to a Catalytic Reformer unit.
Catalytic Reformer unit is used to convert the naphtha-boiling range molecules into higher octane reformate (reformer product). The reformate has higher content of aromatics, olefins, and cyclic hydrocarbons). An important byproduct of a reformer is hydrogen released during the catalyst reaction. The hydrogen is used either in the hydrotreaters and hydrocracker.
Distillate Hydrotreater unit desulfurizes distillates (such as diesel) after atmospheric distillation.
Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit upgrades heavier fractions into lighter, more valuable products.
Hydrocracker unit uses hydrogen to upgrade heavier fractions into lighter, more valuable products.
Visbreaking unit upgrades heavy residual oils by thermally cracking them into lighter, more valuable reduced viscosity products.
Merox unit treats LPG, kerosene or jet fuel by oxidizing mercaptans to organic disulfides.
Coking units (either delayed or fluid coking) process very heavy residual oils into gasoline and diesel fuel, leaving petroleum coke as a residual product.
Alkylation unit produces high-octane component for gasoline blending.
Dimerization unit converts olefins into higher-octane gasoline blending components. For example, butenes can be dimerized into isooctene which may subsequently be hydrogenated to form isooctane. There are also other uses for dimerization.
Isomerization unit converts linear molecules to higher-octane branched molecules for blending into gasoline or feed to alkylation units.
Steam reforming unit produces hydrogen for the hydrotreaters or hydrocracker.
Liquified gas storage units for propane and similar gaseous fuels at pressure sufficient to maintain in liquid form. These are usually spherical vessels or bullets (horizontal vessels with rounded ends.
Storage tanks for crude oil and finished products, usually cylindrical, with some sort of vapor emission control and surrounded by an earthen berm to contain spills.
Amine gas treater, Claus unit, and tail gas treatment for converting hydrogen sulfide from hydrodesulfurization into elemental sulfur.
Utility units such as cooling towers for circulating cooling water, boiler plants for steam generation, instrument air systems for pneumatically operated control valves and an electrical substation.
Wastewater collection and treating systems consisting of API separators, dissolved air flotation (DAF) units and some type of further treatment (such as an activated sludge biotreater) to make such water suitable for reuse or for disposal.
Specialty end products.
These will blend various feedstocks, mix appropriate additives, provide short term storage, and prepare for bulk loading to trucks, barges, product ships, and railcars.
Gaseous fuels such as propane, stored and shipped in liquid form under pressure in specialized railcars to distributors.
Liquid fuels blending (producing automotive and aviation grades of gasoline, kerosene, various aviation turbine fuels, and diesel fuels, adding dyes, detergents, antiknock additives, oxygenates, and anti-fungal compounds as required). Shipped by barge, rail, and tanker ship. May be shipped regionally in dedicated pipelines to point consumers, particularly aviation jet fuel to major airports, or piped to distributors in multi-product pipelines using product separators called pipeline inspection gauges ("pigs").
Lubricants (produces light machine oils, motor oils, and greases, adding viscosity stabilizers as required), usually shipped in bulk to an offsite packaging plant.
Wax (paraffin), used in the packaging of frozen foods, among others. May be shipped in bulk to a site to prepare as packaged blocks.
Sulfur (or sulfuric acid), byproducts of sulfur removal from petroleum which may have up to a couple percent sulfur as organic sulfur-containing compounds. Sulfur and sulfuric acid are useful industrial materials. Sulfuric acid is usually prepared and shipped as the acid precursor oleum.
Bulk tar shipping for offsite unit packaging for use in tar-and-gravel roofing.
Asphalt unit. Prepares bulk asphalt for shipment.
Petroleum coke, used in specialty carbon products or as solid fuel.
Petrochemicals or petrochemical feedstocks, which are often sent to petrochemical plants for further processing in a variety of ways. The petrochemicals may be olefins or their precursors, or various types of aromatic petrochemicals.
Safety and environmental concerns.
The refining process releases numerous different chemicals into the atmosphere; consequently, there are substantial air pollution emissions[7] and a notable odor normally accompanies the presence of a refinery. Aside from air pollution impacts there are also wastewater concerns,[3] risks of industrial accidents such as fire and explosion, and noise health effects due to industrial noise.
The public has demanded that many governments place restrictions on contaminants that refineries release, and most refineries have installed the equipment needed to comply with the requirements of the pertinent environmental protection regulatory agencies. In the United States, there is strong pressure to prevent the development of new refineries, and no major refinery has been built in the country since Marathon's Garyville, Louisiana facility in 1976. However, many existing refineries have been expanded during that time. Environmental restrictions and pressure to prevent construction of new refineries may have also contributed to rising fuel prices in the United States.[8] Additionally, many refineries (over 100 since the 1980s) have closed due to obsolescence and/or merger activity within the industry itself. This activity has been reported to Congress and in specialized studies not widely publicised.
Environmental and safety concerns mean that oil refineries are sometimes located some distance away from major urban areas. Nevertheless, there are many instances where refinery operations are close to populated areas and pose health risks such as in the Campo de Gibraltar, a Spanish state owned refinery near the towns of Gibraltar, Algeciras, La Linea, San Roque and Los Barrios with a combined population of over 300,000 residents within a 5 mile radius and the CEPSA refinery in Santa Cruz on the island of Tenerife, Spain[9] which is sited in a densely-populated city center and next to the only two major evacuation routes in and out of the city. In California's Contra Costa County and Solano County, a shoreline necklace of refineries and associated chemical plants are adjacent to urban areas in Richmond, Martinez, Pacheco, Concord, Pittsburg, Vallejo and Benicia, with occasional accidental events that require "shelter in place" orders to the adjacent populations.
History.
The world's first oil refineries were set up by Ignacy Łukasiewicz near Jaslo, Austrian Empire (now in Poland) in the years 1854-56[10][11] but they were initially small as there was no real demand for refined fuel. As Łukasiewicz's kerosene lamp gained popularity the refining industry grew in the area.
The first large oil refinery opened at Ploieşti, Romania in 1856.[12] Several other refineries were built at that location with investment from United States companies before being taken over by Nazi Germany during World War II. Most of these refineries were heavily bombarded by US Army Air Forces in Operation Tidal Wave, August 1, 1943. Since then they have been rebuilt, and currently pose somewhat of an environmental concern.
Another early example is Oljeön, now preserved as a museum at the UNESCO world heritage site Engelsberg. It started operation in 1875 and is part of the Ecomuseum Bergslagen.
At one time, the world's largest oil refinery was claimed to be Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia, owned by Saudi Aramco. For most of the 20th century, the largest refinery of the world was the Abadan refinery in Iran. This refinery suffered extensive damage during the war Iran-Iraq war. The world's largest refinery complex is the "Centro de Refinación de Paraguaná" (CRP) operated by PDVSA in Venezuela with a production capacity of 956,000 barrels per day (Amuay 635,000 bpd, Cardón 305,000 bpd and Bajo Grande 16,000 bpd). SK Corporation's Ulsan refinery in South Korea with a capacity of 840,000 bpd and Reliance Petroleum's refinery in Jamnagar, India with 660,000 bpd are the second and third largest, respectively.
Early US refineries processed crude oil to recover the kerosene. Other products (like gasoline) were considered wastes and were often dumped directly into the nearest river. The invention of the automobile shifted the demand to gasoline and diesel, which remain the primary refined products today. Refineries pre-dating the EPA were very toxic to the environment. Strict legislation has mandated that refineries meet modern air and water cleanliness standards. In fact, obtaining a permit to build even a modern refinery with minimal impact on the environment (other than CO2 emissions) is so difficult and costly that no new refineries have been built (though many have been expanded) in the United States since 1976. As a result, some believe that this may be the reason that the US is becoming more and more dependent on the imports of finished gasoline, as opposed to incremental crude oil. On the other hand, studies have revealed that accelerating merger activity in the refining and production sector has reduced capacity further, resulting in tighter markets in the United States in particular

Mineral oil

2007-11-24T23:24:00.000-08:00

Mineral oil or liquid petrolatum is a by-product in the distillation of petroleum to produce gasoline. It is a transparent, colorless oil composed mainly of alkanes (typically 15 to 40 carbons) [1] and cyclic paraffins, related to white petrolatum. Mineral oil is a substance of relatively low value, and it is produced in very large quantities. Mineral oil is available in light and heavy grades, and can often be found in drug stores.
Applications.
Refined mineral oil is used as transformer oil.
Alkali metals are often submerged in mineral oil for storage or transportation. The oil prevents the metals from reacting with atmospheric moisture.
Mineral oil is sometimes taken orally as a laxative. It lubricates feces and intestinal mucous membranes, and limits the amount of water removed from feces. Typically, mineral oil is effective within six hours. While it has been reported that mineral oil may be absorbed when emulsified, most information shows that it passes harmlessly through the gastrointestinal system.
If used at all, mineral oil should never be given internally to young children, pets, or anyone with a cough, hiatus hernia, or nocturnal reflux, and should be swallowed with care. Due to its low density, it is easily aspirated into the lungs, where it cannot be removed by the body and can cause serious complications such as lipoid pneumonia.[2] While popular as a folk remedy, there are many safer alternatives available. In children, if aspirated, the oil can work to prevent normal breathing, resulting in death of brain cells and permanent paralysis and/or retardation.
Mineral oil with added fragrance is marketed as baby oil in the US, UK and Canada.
Used as an ingredient in baby lotions, cold creams, ointments and other pharmaceuticals and low-grade cosmetics.
Certain mineral oils are used in livestock vaccines, as an adjuvant to stimulate a cell-mediated immune response to the vaccinating agent.
Used on eyelashes to prevent brittleness and/or breaking.
Used as suspending and lavigating agent in sulphur ointments.
Used in small quantities (2–3 drops daily) to clean ears. Over a couple of weeks, the mineral oil softens dried or hardened earwax so that a gentle flush of water can remove it. In the case of a damaged or perforated eardrum, however, mineral oil should not be used, as oil in the middle ear can lead to ear infections.
Lubrication
Fuel, for items such as oil lamps.
Electric mineral-oil–filled space heaters
Coolant
Fog machines
Used in some guitar string cleaners
Automotive and aviation brake fluid that does not absorb water molecules by osmosis
Low viscosity mineral oil is sold as a preservative for wooden cutting boards and utensils.
A coating of mineral oil protects metal surfaces from moisture and oxidation; notably, nihonto are traditionally coated in clove-scented mineral oil.
Food-preparation butcher block surfaces are often conditioned periodically with mineral oil.
Light mineral oil is used in textile industries and used as a jute batching oil.
Mineral oil is used to darken soapstone countertops for aesthetic purposes.
It works (albeit poorly) as a release agent for molds, especially in fiberglass casting.
It is used as a release agent for baking pans and trays.
It is occasionally used in the food industry (particularly for candy). Some studies suggest that prolonged use might be unhealthy because of low accumulation levels in organs. It has been discouraged for use in children's foods, though it is still occasionally found in candies in China and Canada.
Used as a cleaner and solvent for inks in fine art printmaking as well as in oil painting, though turpentine is more often used.
In the poultry industry, plain mineral oil can be swabbed onto the feet of chickens infected with scaly mites on the shank, toes, and webs. Mineral oil suffocates these tiny parasites.
Some people have found success using mineral oil to remove henna used as a hair dye.
Using mineral oil or baby oil to reduce a grease, oil, or asphalt stain on clothing may be counter-intuitive, but is often effective, as the mineral oil dilutes and liquefies some of the stain thereby making it easier to clean out of the clothing.
Some people have used mineral oil as a cooling system for a computer, by completely submerging the computer's motherboard and system components into an aquarium tank filled with mineral oil. The oil does not have any long term effect on the components. A video and instructions on building a mineral oil cooled computer can be found here.
It is commonly used to create a "wear" effect on new clay poker chips, which, without the use of mineral oil, can only be accomplished through prolonged use of the poker chips. The chips are either placed in mineral oil (and left there for a short amount of time), or the oil is applied to each chip individually, and is then rubbed off, removing any chalky residue from the new chips, also improving the look and "feel" of the chips.
Used to cover gummy worms for the glossy effect it produces.
Used by boxers and other combat athletes to increase sweating, reduce warm-up times and help with weight loss.
Used to remove creme makeup.
Other names for mineral oil.

adepsine oil
alboline
baby oil
bayol 55
cable oil
bayol f
blandlube
blandol white mineral oil
carnea 21
clearteck
crystol 325
crystosol
Diala-X, AX
drakeol
electrical insulating oil
ervol
filtrawhite
fonoline
frigol
glymol
Heat-treating oil
hevyteck
hydraulic oil
hydrocarbon oils
jute batching oil
kaydol
kondremul
kremol
LHM
lignite oil
liquid paraffin
lubricating oil
master Shimmer
mineral oil (saturated parrafin oil)
mineral oil hydrocarbon solvent (petroleum)
mineral oil mist
mineral oil, aromatic
mineral oil, paraffinic
mineral Seal Oil
molol
neo-cultol
nujol
oil mist
oil mist, mineral, severely refined
Oil mist, refined mineral
oil, petroleum
paraffin oil (class)
paraffin oil
parol
paroleine
peneteck
penreco
perfecta
petrogalar
petrolatum
petroleum hydrocarbons
petroleum, liquid
primol
primol 355
primol d
protopet
saxol
tech pet
f triona b
uvasol
univolt N60, 80
voltesso 35
white mineral oil
white oil

Dismissal of the Claims of a Biological Connection for Natural Petroleum.

2007-11-22T00:14:00.000-08:00

1. Introduction.
With recognition that the laws of thermodynamics prohibit spontaneous evolution of liquid hydrocarbons in the regime of temperature and pressure characteristic of the crust of the Earth, one should not expect there to exist legitimate scientific evidence that might suggest that such could occur. Indeed, and correctly, there exists no such evidence.
Nonetheless, and surprisingly, there continue to be often promulgated diverse claims purporting to constitute “evidence” that natural petroleum somehow evolves (miraculously) from biological matter. In this short article, such claims are briefly subjected to scientific scrutiny, demonstrated to be without merit, and dismissed.
The claims which purport to argue for some connection between natural petroleum and biological matter fall into roughly two classes: the “look-like/come-from” claims; and the “similar(recondite)-properties/come-from” claims.

The “look-like/come-from” claims apply a line of unreason exactly as designated: Such argue that, because certain molecules found in natural petroleum “look like” certain other molecules found in biological systems, then the former must “come-from” the latter. Such notion is, of course, equivalent to asserting that elephant tusks evolve because those animals must eat piano keys.
In some instances, the “look-like/come-from” claims assert that certain molecules found in natural petroleum actually are biological molecules, and evolve only in biological systems. These molecules have often been given the spurious name “biomarkers.”
The scientific correction must be stated unequivocally: There have never been observed any specifically biological molecules in natural petroleum, except as contaminants. Petroleum is an excellent solvent for carbon compounds; and, in the sedimentary strata from which petroleum is often produced, natural petroleum takes into solution much carbon material, including biological detritus. However, such contaminants are unrelated to the petroleum solvent.
The claims about “biomarkers” have been thoroughly discredited by observations of those molecules in the interiors of ancient, abiotic meteorites, and also in many cases by laboratory synthesis under imposed conditions mimicking the natural environment. In the discussion below, the claims put forth about porphyrin and isoprenoid molecules are addressed particularly, because many “look-like/come-from” claims have been put forth for those compounds.

The “similar(recondite)-properties/come-from” claims involve diverse, odd phenomena with which persons not working directly in a scientific profession would be unfamiliar. These include the “odd-even abundance imbalance” claims, the “carbon isotope” claims, and the “optical-activity” claims. The first, the “odd-even abundance imbalance” claims, are demonstrated to be utterly unrelated to any biological property. The second, “carbon isotope” claims, are shown to depend upon measurement of an obscure property of carbon fluids which cannot reliably be considered a measure of origin. The third, the “optical-activity” claims, deserve particular note; for the observations of optical activity in natural petroleum have been trumpeted loudly for years as a “proof” of some “biological origin” of petroleum. Those claims have been thoroughly discredited decades ago by observation of optical activity in the petroleum material extracted from the interiors of carbonaceous meteorites. More significantly, recent analysis, which has resolved the previously-outstanding problem of the genesis of optical activity in abiotic fluids, has established that the phenomenon of optical activity is an inevitable thermodynamic consequence of the phase stability of multicomponent fluids at high pressures. Thereby, the observation of optical activity in natural petroleum is entirely consistent with the results of the thermodynamic analysis of the stability of the hydrogen-carbon [H-C] system, which establish that hydrocarbon molecules heavier than methane, and particularly liquid hydrocarbons, evolve spontaneously only at high pressures, comparable to those necessary for diamond formation.

There are two subjects which are particularly relevant for destroying the diverse, spurious claims concerning a putative connection of petroleum and biological matter: the investigations of the carbon material from carbonaceous meteorites; and the reaction products of the Fischer-Tropsch process. Because of their importance, a brief discussion of both is in order.

1.1 The carbonaceous meteorites.
The carbonaceous meteorites, including particularly the carbonaceous chondrites, are meteorites whose chemical composition includes carbon in quantities ranging from a few tenths of a percent to approximately six percent, by mass.1-5 The age of the carbonaceous meteorites is typically 3-4.5 billion years; and their origins clearly abiotic. The mineral structures in these rocks establish that the carbonaceous meteorites have existed at very low temperatures, much below the freezing point of water, effectively since the time of their original formation. Such thermal history of the carbonaceous meteorites eliminates any probability that there ever existed on them life, or biological matter.6 The evidence obtained from scientific investigations of the carbon material in carbonaceous meteorites has destroyed many claims which assert a biological connection between natural petroleum and biological matter.
Significantly, much of the carbon material of the carbonaceous meteorites consists of hydrocarbons, as both solids and in liquid form.1, 5, 7, 8 However, the petroleum material contained in carbonaceous meteorites cannot be considered to be the origin of the natural petroleum found in the near-surface crust of the Earth. The heating which inevitably accompanied the impact process during the accretion of meteorites into the Earth at the time of its formation would almost certainly have caused decomposition of most of their contained hydrocarbon molecules. The carbonaceous meteorites provided the Earth with its carbon (albeit much of it delivered in the form of hydrocarbons) but not its hydrocarbons or natural petroleum. (The processes by which hydrocarbons evolve from the native materials of the Earth are described, and demonstrated, in the following article.)

1.2 The Fischer-Tropsch process.
The Fischer-Tropsch process is the best-known industrial technique for the synthesis of hydrocarbons, and has been used for more than seventy-five years. The Fischer-Tropsch process reacts carbon monoxide and hydrogen at synthesis conditions of approximately 150 bar and 700 K, in the presence of ThO2, MgO, Al2O3, MnO, clays, and the catalysts Ni, Co, and Fe. The reactions are as follow:
When a Ni-Co catalyst is used, the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis proceeds according to the reaction:

When a Fe catalyst is used, the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis proceeds according to the reaction:

The yield of the Fischer-Tropsch process is approximately 200 g of hydrocarbons from 1 m3 of CO and H2 mixture. During World War II, the production of liquid fuels by the Fischer-Tropsch process was used extensively in Germany; approximately 600,000 t of synthetic gasoline were synthesized in 1943.
The reaction products of the Fischer-Tropsch process are only metastable in the thermodynamic conditions of their synthesis; at pressures of approximately only 150 bar and 700 K, the destruction of liquid hydrocarbons is inevitable. During the industrial Fischer-Tropsch process, the reaction products are promptly cooled and moved to conditions of lower pressure. The natural environment does not mimic the highly-controlled, and highly-regulated, industrial, Fischer-Tropsch process. The Fischer-Tropsch process cannot be considered for the generation of natural petroleum.

2. The specious “biomarker” claims: The irrelevancy of the presence in petroleum of porphyrins, - and similarly of isoprenoids, pristane, phytane, clorins, terpines, cholestane, etc.
One may read, in almost every textbook published in the English language purporting to deal with the subject of petroleum geology, diverse claims made that the presence of certain molecules found in natural petroleum constitute “evidence,” or even “proof,” that the petroleum evolved from biological matter. Such molecules, claimed as evidence of a biological connection, include such as porphyrins, isoprenoids, pristane, phytane, cholestane, terpines, and clorins. Closer investigations have proven such claims to be groundless. Pristane and phytane are simply branched alkanes of the isoprenoid class. Cholestane, C27H48, is a true, highly-reduced hydrocarbon, but is not to be confused with the oxidized, biotic, molecule cholesterol. Cholestane and cholesterol have similar geometric structures, and share similar carbon skeletons; there the similarity ends. Cholestane is a constituent of natural petroleum; cholesterol is not. Significantly, the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis produces isoprenoids, including phytane and pristine.

Material of truly biogenic origin, such as fossil spores or pollen, is indeed often observed in petroleum, - and too often mislabeled as “biomarkers,” supposedly indicating a connection between the natural petroleum and biological material. Careful investigation has established that such material has been leached into solution by the crude oil from buried organic matter in the (typically sedimentary) reservoir rocks from which the oil has been taken.9, 10
Contrarily, the indisputably biological material, such as spores and pollen, found in petroleum can be considered as “abiomarkers” of petroleum origin. For examples, crude oil found in reservoir rocks of the Permian age always contain not only spores and pollen of the Permian age but also spores and pollen of older ages, such as, for example, the Carboniferous, Devonian and Precambrian in petroleum investigated in Tatarstan, Russia. In the same region and in other portions of the Volga-Urals geological province, crude oils in the Carbonaceous sediments are characterized with concentrations of spores of Carbonaceous-through-Precambrian ages, and crudes in the Devonian sandstones with spores of Devonian-through-Precambrian ages.9, 11

The types of porphyrins, isoprenoids, terpines, and clorins found in natural petroleum have been observed in material extracted from the interiors of no fewer than fifty-four meteorites, including amphoteric meteorites (Chainpur, Ngavi, Semarkona), bronze chondrites (Charis, Ghubara, Kulp, Tieschitz), carbonaceous chondrites of all four petrological classes (Alais, Bali, Bells, Cold Bockeveld, Eracot, Felix, Groznaia, Haripura, Ivuna, Kaba, Kainsaz, Karoonda, Lance, Mighei, Mokoia, Murchison, Murrey, Orgueil, Ornans, Pseudo, Renazzo, Santa Cruz, St.Capraix, Staroye Boriskino, Tonk, Vigarano, Warrenton), enstatite meteorites (Abee, Hvittis, Indarkh), hypersthene chondrites (Bishunpur, Bruderheim, Gallingebirge, Holbrook, Homestead, Krymka), iron meteorites (Arus (Yardymli), Burgavli, Canyon Diabolo, Odessa, Toluca), aubrite meteorites (Norton County), and ureilite meteorites (Dyalpur, Goalpara, Novo Urei).9, 12, 13
The observations of such molecules in meteorites thoroughly discredited the claims that their presence in natural petroleum might somehow constitute evidence of a biological connection. Because especially strenuous (and especially erroneous) claims are often made particularly about the porphyrins observed in natural petroleum, those molecules will be discussed in modest detail.

Porphyrins comprise a class of molecules designated cyclic ionopheres, a special class of polydentate ligands for metals. Porphyrins are heavy, approximately planar, chelating molecules, found in both biotic and abiotic systems. Several porphyrin molecules are of special biological significance: vitamin B12; chlorophyll, the porphyrin which is the agent of the photosynthesis process in plants; and the heme molecule, the porphyrin component of the protein hemoglobin which is responsible for the transport of oxygen in mammalian blood. As an example of the high molecular weight of porphyrins, hemoglobin has the empirical chemical formula, [C738H1166O208N203S2Fe]4. Neither vitamin B12, nor chlorophyll, nor heme (nor hemoglobin), nor any biotic porphyrin has ever been observed as a component of natural petroleum.
The porphyrin molecules found in natural petroleum possess different side-groups than do those of chlorophyll or heme. The central chelated metal element in chlorophyll is always magnesium; in heme, it is iron. In porphyrin molecules found in natural petroleum, the central chelated metal element is typically vanadium or nickel.

As stated, porphyrin molecules evolve both biologically and abiologically. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, porphyrin molecules, which are the same as those found in terrestrial natural petroleum, were observed in the hydrocarbon fluids extracted from the interiors of carbonaceous meteorites.
The observations of petroleum-type porphyrins in the hydrocarbon fluids extracted from the interiors of carbonaceous meteorites destroyed, a fortiori, the claims that such molecules constitute “evidence” for a connection of petroleum with biological matter. Additionally, after the observations of porphyrins in carbonaceous meteorites, those petroleum-type porphyrins were synthesized abiologically in the laboratory under chemical and thermodynamic conditions specially set to mimic the abiotic conditions in meteorites.8, 14

The “porphyrin evidence” claims were destroyed by the investigations of carbonaceous meteorites approximately thirty years ago, and are well known throughout the community of scientists working in the field of petroleum. Every compound designated as a “biomarker,” and not otherwise identified as a contaminant, has been either observed in the fluids extracted from the interiors of meteorites, or synthesized in laboratories under conditions comparable to the crust of the Earth, - or both.
Such scientific facts, and the general knowledge of same, not withstanding, every textbook published in the English language purportedly dealing with the subject of petroleum geology, including the ones cited above, continues to repeat the old discredited claims that the presence of (abiotic) porphyrins in natural petroleum provide evidence for its origin from biological matter.15-17 Such assertions, thirty years after having been demonstrated scientifically insupportable, must be acknowledged to be intellectual fraud, pure and simple.

3. The “odd-even” abundance claims, - involving the small imbalance of the relative abundances of linear hydrocarbon molecules containing an odd number of carbon atoms, compared to homologous ones containing an even number.
The claims concerning the imbalance of linear molecules containing odd and even numbers, respectively, of carbon atoms is another of the genre of “the constituents of natural petroleum ‘have the same properties as’ the constituents of biological systems, in such-or-so a way, and therefore petroleum must have evolved from biological matter.” No intelligent teenage student at, for examples, a Russian, German, Dutch, or Swiss gymnasium, would accept such reasoning. Nonetheless, such claims are commonly put forth in English-language textbooks purporting to deal with petroleum geology. Such claims are herewith shown to be without merit and insupportable.
Fig. 1 Symbolic representation of a molecule of normal octane, n-C8H18.
Natural petroleum is a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules of several classes. The most common class of molecules in petroleum is that of the normal alkanes, or n-alkanes, which have the chemical formula CnH2n+2 and a chain-like structure (as noted in the first article). For example, n-octane, C8H18, has the structure shown schematically in Fig. 1. Correctly, the carbon atoms do not lie exactly along a straight line; a picture of n-octane which more accurately represents its geometric properties is shown in Fig. 2, where n-C8H18 is drawn as a “stick-&-ball” model. Nonetheless, in both figures, the linear chain-like aspect of the n-alkane molecule is shown clearly.

Similarly as for cyclohexane as described in the first article, the hydrocarbon n-C8H18 is geometrically related to one or more biological molecules by substitution of some of the hydrogen atoms by OH radicals. Specifically, if one of the hydrogen atoms on each carbon atom in n-C8H18 were replaced by an OH radical, the resulting molecule, n-C8H18O8, would be a carbohydrate, as shown in Fig. 3, a simple sugar related to fructose (and whose chemical potential is approximately 2,500 cal lower than that of n-octane).
In a distribution of linear hydrocarbon molecules which comprise natural petroleum, the chain-like n-alkanes manifest a slight imbalance of abundances which favors molecules possessing an odd number of carbon atoms, as compared to those with an even number. Similarly, a distribution of linear biological molecules, such as the chain-like carbohydrates, manifests also a similar slight imbalance of molecules possessing an odd number of carbon atoms, again as compared to those with an even number. From this modest, and somewhat arcane, similarity of odd-to-even abundances, assertions have been made that hydrocarbons evolve from biological matter. Of course, the second law of thermodynamics prohibits such, which fact should obviate any such assertion.

Simple investigation of hydrocarbons generated from abiotic matter manifest also such odd-to-even imbalance of molecular abundances for the linear molecules. The reaction products of the Fischer-Tropsch process manifest the same odd-to-even abundance imbalances of linear molecules as do both natural petroleum, as well as biological molecules.
A specific example of the inevitable genesis of hydrocarbon molecules which manifest such odd-to-even abundance imbalances of linear molecules was demonstrated by Zemanian, Streett, and Zollweg more than fifteen years ago. Zemanian et al. demonstrated the genesis of heavy and liquid hydrocarbons at high pressures and temperatures from a mixture of methane and propane. Particularly, Zemanian et al. measured the relative abundances of the linear chain hydrocarbon molecules. Their observations, of the imbalance of abundances, and slight excess, of chain molecules with odd numbers of carbon atoms are quoted here (pp. 63-64):18

“These results are also notable when one considers the even-to-odd carbon number ratio of petroleum.
One of the arguments for a biological origin of petroleum has been that these fluids generally show a small marked prevalence of odd numbered hydrocarbons. It is also well known that living organisms produce primarily odd numbered carbon [or carbohydrate] chains. Abiological processes have been presumed to produce even and odd numbered hydrocarbons in roughly equal concentrations. The results of this work demonstrate that presumption to be false. Both biological and abiological hydrocarbon chemistries favor reactions involving two carbons over single carbon reactions [leading to preferred reactants of odd-numbered chain molecules].”

It deserves note that the “odd-even abundance-imbalance” claim, as “evidence”[sic] of a biological origin of hydrocarbon molecules, was rejected by competent physicists and statistical mechanicians, almost immediately when it was introduced. The odd-even abundance imbalance is simply a result of the directional property of the covalent bond together with the geometry of linear molecules.

4. The phenomenon of optical activity in natural petroleum: Evidence of an abiotic, high-pressure genesis.
Perhaps for reason of its historical provenance in fermented wine, the phenomenon of optical activity in fluids was for some time believed to have some intrinsic connection with biological processes or materials.20, 21 Such error persisted until the phenomenon of optical activity was observed in material extracted from the interiors of meteorites; some of which material had been believed previously to be uniquely of biotic origin.
From the interiors of carbonaceous meteorites have been extracted the common amino-acid molecules alanine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, leusine, proline, serine, threonine, as well as the unusual ones α-aminoisobutyric acid, isovaline, pseudoleucine.22-24 At one time, all had been considered to be solely of biotic origin. The ages of the carbonaceous meteorites were determined to be 3-4.5 billion years, and their origins clearly abiotic. Therefore, those amino acids had to be recognized as compounds of both biological and abiological genesis. Furthermore, solutions of amino acid molecules from carbonaceous meteorites were observed to manifest optical activity. Thus was thoroughly discredited the notion that the phenomenon of optical activity in fluids (particularly those of carbon compounds) might have any intrinsic connection with biotic matter. Significantly, the optical activity observed in the amino acids extracted from carbonaceous meteorites has not the characteristics of such of common biotic origin, with only one enantiomer present; instead, it manifests the characteristics observed in natural petroleum, with unbalanced, so-called scalemic, abundances of chiral molecules.25

The optical activity commonly observed in natural petroleum has been for years speciously claimed as “proof” of some connection with biological detritus, - albeit one requiring both a willing disregard of the considerable differences between the optical activity observed in natural petroleum and that in materials of truly biotic origin, such as wine, as well as desuetude of the dictates of the laws of thermodynamics.
Optical activity is observed in minerals such as quartz or Iceland spar, as well as in oil, and among biological molecules. The optical activity observed in petroleum is more characteristic of the same in abiotic minerals, such as naturally occurring quartz, which are polycrystalline minerals, with a scalemic distribution of domains of left- and right-rotational properties. The chiral molecules in petroleum manifest scalemic distributions, and significantly lack the homochiral distribution which characterize biotic optically active matter. The optical activity in natural petroleum is characterized by either a right (positive, or dextrorotary) or left (negative, or levorotary) rotation of the plane of polarization. By contrast, in biological material left (levorotary) rotation dominates.

The observation of optical activity in hydrocarbon material extracted from the interiors of carbonaceous meteorites, and typical of such in natural petroleum, discredited those claims.2, 26 Nonetheless, the scientific conundrum as to why the hydrocarbons manifest optical activity, in both carbonaceous meteorites and terrestrial crude oil remained unresolved until recently.
The chiral molecules in natural petroleum originate from three distinct sources: contamination by biological detritus in the near-surface strata from which the oil has been taken; the biological alteration and degradation of the original oil by microbes which consume and metabolize oil; and the chiral hydrocarbon molecules which are intrinsic to the petroleum and generated with it. Only the last concerns the origin of petroleum.
The genesis of the scalemic distribution of chiral molecules of natural petroleum has recently been shown to be a direct consequence of the chiral geometry of the system particles acting according to the laws of classical thermodynamics. The resolution of the problem of the origin of the scalemic distributions of chiral molecules in natural petroleum has been shown to be an inevitable consequence of their high-pressure genesis.19 Thus, the phenomenon of optical activity in natural petroleum, contrary to supporting any assertion of a biological connection, strongly confirms the high-pressure genesis of natural petroleum, and thereby the modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins.

5. The carbon isotope ratios, and their inadequacy as indicators of origin.
The claims made concerning the carbon isotope ratios, and specifically such as purport to identify the origin of the material, particularly the hydrocarbons, are especially recondite and outside the experience of most persons not knowledgeable in the physics of hydrogen-carbon [H-C] systems. Furthermore, the claims concerning the carbon isotope ratios most often involve methane, the only hydrocarbon which is thermodynamically stable in the regime of temperatures and pressures of the Earth’s crust, and the only one which spontaneously evolves there.
The carbon nucleus has two stable isotopes, 12C and 13C. The overwhelmingly most abundance stable isotope of carbon is 12C, which possesses six protons and six neutrons; 13C possesses an extra neutron. (There is another, unstable isotope, 14C, which possesses two extra neutrons; 14C results from a high-energy reaction of the nitrogen nucleus, 14N, with a high-energy cosmic ray particle. The isotope 14C is not involved in the claims about the isotope ratios of carbon.) The carbon isotope ratio, designated δ13C, is simply the ratio of the abundance of carbon isotopes 13C/12C, normalized to the standard of the marine carbonate named Pee Dee Belemnite. The values of the measured δ13C ratio is expressed as a percentage (compared to the standard).
During the 1950’s, increasingly numerous measurements of the carbon isotope ratios of hydrocarbon gases were taken, particularly of methane; and too often assertions were made that such ratios could unambiguously determine the origin of the hydrocarbons. The validity of such assertions were tested, independently by Colombo, Gazzarini, and Gonfiantini in Italy and by Galimov in Russia. Both sets of workers established that the carbon isotope ratios cannot be used reliably to determine the origin of the carbon compound tested.

Colombo, Gazzarini, and Gonfiantini demonstrated conclusively, by a simple experiment the results of which admitted no ambiguity, that the carbon isotope ratios of methane change continuously along its transport path, becoming progressively lighter with distance traveled. Colombo et al. took a sample of natural gas and passed it through a column of crushed rock, chosen to resemble as closely as possible the terrestrial environment.27 Their results were definitive: The greater the distance of rock through which the sample of methane passes, the lighter becomes its carbon isotope ratio.
The reason for the result observed by Colombo et al. is straightforward: there is a slight preference for the heavier isotope of carbon to react chemically with the rock through which the gas passes. Therefore, the greater the transit distance through the rock, the lighter becomes the carbon isotope ratio, as the heavier is preferentially removed by chemical reaction along the transport path. This result is not surprising; contrarily, such is entirely consistent with the fundamental requirements of quantum mechanics and kinetic theory.
Pertinent to the matter of any claim that a light carbon isotope ratio might be indicative of a biological origin, the results demonstrated by Colombo et al. establish that such a claim is insupportable. Methane which might have originated from carbon material from the remains of a carbonaceous meteorite in the mantle of the Earth, and possessing initially a heavy carbon isotope ratio, could easily have that ratio diminished, along the path of its transit into the crust of the Earth, to a value comparable to common biological material.

Galimov demonstrated that the carbon isotope ratio of methane can become progressively heavier while at rest in a reservoir in the crust of the Earth, through the action of methane-consuming microbes.28 The city of Moscow stores methane in water-wet reservoirs on the outskirts of that city, into which natural gas is injected throughout the year. During summers, the quantity of methane in the reservoirs increases because of less use (primarily by heating), and during winters the quantity is drawn down. By calibrating the reservoir volumes and the distance from the injection facilities, the residency time of the methane in the reservoir is determined. Galimov established that the longer the methane remains in the reservoir, the heavier becomes its carbon isotope ratio.
The reason for the result observed by Galimov is also straightforward: In the water of the reservoir, there live microbes of the common, methane-metabolizing type. There is a slight preference for the lighter isotope of carbon to enter the microbe cell and to be metabolized. The longer the methane remains in the reservoir, the more of it is consumed by the methane-metabolizing microbes, with the molecules possessing lighter isotope being consumed more. Therefore, the longer its residency time in the reservoir, the heavier becomes the carbon isotope ratio, as the lighter is preferentially removed by methane-metabolizing microbes. This result is entirely consistent with the fundamental requirements of kinetic theory.

Furthermore, the carbon isotope ratios in hydrocarbon systems are also strongly influenced by the temperature of reaction. For hydrocarbons produced by the Fischer-Tropsch process, the δ13C varies from -65% at 127 C to -20% at 177 C.29, 30 No material parameter, the measurement of which varies by almost 70% with a variation of temperature of only approximately 10%, can be used as a reliable determinant of any property of that material.
The δ13C carbon isotope ratio cannot be considered to determine reliably the origin of a sample of methane, - or any other compound.

6. Conclusion.
The claims which have traditionally been put forward to argue a connection between natural petroleum and biological matter have been subjected to scientific scrutiny and have been established to be baseless. The outcome of such scrutiny comes hardly as a surprise, given recognition of the constraints of thermodynamics upon the genesis of hydrocarbons.
If liquid hydrocarbons might evolve from biological detritus in the thermodynamic regime of the crust of the Earth, we could all expect to go to bed at night in our dotage, with white hair (or, at least, whatever might remain of same), a spreading waistline, and all the undesirable decrepitude of age, and to awake in the morning, clear eyed, with our hair returned of the color of our youth, with a slim waistline, a strong, flexible body, and with our sexual vigor restored. Alas, such is not to be. The merciless laws of thermodynamics do not accommodate folklore fables. Natural petroleum has no connection with biological matter.

However, recognition of such fact leaves unanswered the conundrums which eluded the scientific community for more than a century: How does natural petroleum evolve ? And from where does natural petroleum come ?
The theoretical resolution of these questions had to await development of the most modern techniques of quantum statistical mechanics. The experimental demonstration of the required equipment has been only recently available.

Petroleum in a Nutshell...........(A Geology Description)

2007-11-20T19:30:00.000-08:00

Petroleum (that is, oil and gas) is so ordinary that it takes an effort to see what an unlikely and marvelous substance it is: raw liquid oil and high-quality flammable gas, pumped in enormous quantities right out of the ground. Only a few generations ago, oil for all uses—fuel, lubrication, nutrition, medicine—was pressed from plant crops or rendered from animal fat. Gas was manufactured from coal. And the geologic resource was almost totally hidden.
Natural seeps of crude oil are not especially rare. But the oil leaking from the ground is usually a highly degraded substance, close to tar. It was at first used locally as a substitute for pitch or as a crude medicine. When drillers learned to tap petroleum at depth starting in 1859, its virtues began to be discovered, and over the next century oil transformed civilization. Natural gas came into prominence at the same time.
How Petroleum Forms
Geologists have learned a lot about petroleum, but we still don't know in complete detail how it forms. Clearly it is derived from the remains of living things, just as coal is. But before dead organic matter becomes petroleum or coal it exists as a material called kerogen. With time in the ground, kerogen matures into an assortment of hydrocarbon molecules of all sizes and weights. The lightest (smallest) hydrocarbon molecules waft away as natural gas, and the heavier (larger) ones make up an oily liquid.
Let's look closer. Petroleum source rocks form at sea, from mud that washes offshore (forming shale) or from limestones. A thick rain of dead planktonic algae adds organic remains to this sediment. (On land, woody plant matter predominates and becomes coal.) In both settings, the mixture is buried under conditions of no oxygen. Only a few percent of the world's dead organic matter is preserved this way.
Under these anaerobic conditions underground, the kerogen is transformed into a flammable substance called bitumen. Certainly heat (up to about 150° C) is part of this process; so is the action of anaerobic microbes in the sediment and natural catalysts. One recent theory, not widely favored, holds that methane gas rising from deeper in the Earth joins this material.
Most of the bitumen is eventually cooked into tarry asphalt, releasing hydrocarbon molecules (as well as water and carbon dioxide) out of the source rock as it heats. Heavy oils form first, then light oils. Once temperatures reach about 100° C, source rocks produce mostly gas. Being lighter than rocks, petroleum tends to rise upward through fractures and the pores of coarse sandstone beds.
A small fraction of that leakage, perhaps 2 percent, is preserved in large pools wherever layers of impermeable rock like shale or limestone put a tight lid on top of it. In a nutshell, that's the basis of prospecting for oil: locating (1) source rocks, (2) migration pathways and (3) stratigraphic traps.
Petroleum Reservoirs
The conventional petroleum reservoir is in a stratigraphic trap—a dome or vault of impermeable rock, formed by folding or faulting of the rock layers or by the rise of salt domes, with permeable rocks beneath it. In those permeable rocks there may be a layer of natural gas on top, with petroleum below. Beneath the oil is usually a layer of rock soaked with water or brine. There are also other unconventional types of reservoirs that are not trapped this way.
The key to a reservoir is sponge-like rock with open space between its grains—porosity. The porosity may have existed from the rock's original sediment; it might also arise as groundwater dissolves pores in the rock or as minerals undergo alteration. One major source of porosity is the transformation of calcite to dolomite, which takes up less space, by fluids rich in magnesium.
Besides porosity, there must be high permeability—the connectedness of pores that allows fluid to move easily through the reservoir rock. Permeability, porosity and geologic structure are all of great interest to petroleum geologists.
Reservoirs may come to be under excessive pressure due to tectonic forces. Modern equipment and practices can handle this pressure, but in the past drilling sometimes produced gushers.
Petroleum Production
Producing oil is an intricate art. Oil can be pumped out of the sponge at a certain maximum rate, determined by the viscosity of the oil and the quality of the reservoir. Oil production must be managed carefully to avoid clogging or collapsing the pores, which can prevent a well from accessing much of the reservoir. Pumping too fast, pumping too slowly or interrupting production can all damage an oilfield. It means that more wells must be drilled to fully exploit the reservoir, raising the expense of production.
Drilling curved and horizontal wells into reservoirs is a common technique to increase production. Another involves fracturing the reservoir rock by pumping fluids and sand into it under high pressure. The fluids open cracks, and the sand keeps them open to let out the petroleum. This can overcome low permeability. Treating the wellbore with various acids or solvents can also raise permeability.
Oil Chemistry and Classification
Petroleum is called a fossil fuel, but it has no fossils in it. There are what you might call chemical fossils—for instance biological chemicals that did not evolve until recently have been found in young oils—but any actual fossil organisms occur only in the youngest kerogen. Oil and gas thus are purified, transformed products of countless dead organisms from past ages. You might consider petroleum a sort of geologic compost.
Crude oil mostly consists of a large set of liquid and solid hydrocarbons ranging from pentane (C5H12) to the heaviest long-chain alkanes that make up asphalt. The lightest alkanes (methane, ethane, propane and butane) make up natural gas. Refiners sort out and purify these compounds to produce fuels, lubricants and tars. (more about alkanes from About Chemistry)
Crude oil is classified as light, medium or heavy according to its viscosity. It is also called sweet if it has little sulfur in it, or sour if it has a lot. Light sweet crude is the most desirable because it is easiest to process into fuel and chemical feedstocks.

Large oil reserves found ....

2007-11-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

Three years of exploration has enabled Pemex to map oilfields that the state-owned oil monopoly believes will more than double the nation's known crude oil reserves.
Luis Ramírez Corzo, Pemex's director for exploration, told EL UNIVERSAL that on a "conservative" estimate, almost 54 billion barrels lie underneath the oilfields. That would take Mexico's reserves to 102 billion barrels, more than the United Arab Emirates (which has reserves of 97.8 billion barrels), Kuwait (94 billion) and Iran (89.7 billion), and almost as much as Iraq (112.5 billion).
The official also said the discovery could enable Pemex to increase Mexico's oil production from the current level of 4 million barrels per day (bpd) to 7 million bpd.
Saudi Arabia currently produces 7.5 million bpd, while Russia's oil output is 7.4 million bpd.
Ramírez Corzo said the exploration, at an investment of US4.6 billion, led to the identification of seven separate blocks rich in oil and natural gas. The most promising blocks are under water in the Gulf of Mexico, thought to contain around 45 billion barrels.
"That's the good news," Ramírez Corzo said. "The bad is that owing to the complexity of the technology needed to exploit the oilfields and the levels of investment required, (Pemex) can't go it alone."
He said Pemex will prepare special "alliance contracts" to attract the involvement of multi-national corporations with capital to invest and the most up-to-date deep sea oil extraction technology.
Similar "multiple service contracts," which Pemex has used to attract foreign capital to extract natural gas from the northern Burgos Basin, have met with legal challenges by opposition lawmakers. Under Mexico's Constitution, exploration and exploitation of the nation's energy resources is the exclusive preserve of the state.
The contracts would maintain Mexican ownership of the oil while allowing the multi-nationals a return on their investment to extract the resources from under the sea, Ramírez Corzo said

Saudi Oil Is Secure and Plentiful....

2007-11-20T09:59:00.000-08:00

Saudi Arabia’s oil industry and the international petroleum organizations shocked a gathering of foreign policy experts in Washington yesterday with an announcement that the Kingdom’s previous estimate of 261 billion barrels of recoverable petroleum has now more than tripled, to 1.2 trillion barrels.
Additionally, Saudi Arabia’s key oil and finance ministers assured the audience — which included US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan — that the Kingdom has the capability to quickly double its oil output and sustain such a production surge for as long as 50 years.
“During times of turmoil, when the world has needed more crude oil, Saudi Arabia has worked without fanfare to promote stability in world markets,” Saudi Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi told the 300 attendees at a conference on US-Saudi energy relations co-sponsored by the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“We have made a commitment to use our spare oil export capacity — even when it is stressful to our economic stability — in order to create a ‘cushion’ that maintains a balance in the global market,” he said.
“Saudi Arabia now has 1.2 trillion barrels of estimated reserve. This estimate is very conservative. Our analysis gives us reason to be very optimistic. We are continuing to discover new resources, and we are using new technologies to extract even more oil from existing reserves,” the minister said.
Naimi said Saudi Arabia is committed to sustaining the average price of $25 per barrel set by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. He said prices should never increase to more than $28 or drop under $22.
“This is a fair price to consumers and producers. But, really, Saudi Arabia and OPEC has limited control on world markets,” said Al-Naimi.
“Prices are driven by other factors: Instability in key oil producing countries; industry struggles to produce specialized gasoline; and the resulting strains on refineries to meet local demand.”
“Saudi Arabia’s vast oil reserves are certainly there,” Naimi added. “None of these reserves requires advanced recovery techniques. We have more than sufficient reserves to increase output. If required, we can increase output from 10.5 million barrels a day to 12-15 million barrels a day. And we can sustain this increased output for 50 years or more. There will be no shortage of oil for the next 50 years. Perhaps much longer.”
Greenspan said he found Naimi’s news “most interesting,” but during his luncheon speech the Fed chairman cautioned that in order for the United States to sustain economic growth it must increase importation of natural gas products as a hedge against rising energy prices.
“(We need a) massive expansion of liquefied natural gas shipping terminals and (must) develop new offshore re-gasification technologies,” said Greenspan, who also warned that the economic growth of China is driving up the global demand - and cost - for steel, coal, oil, and natural gas.
Naimi said Saudi Arabia is acutely aware of the rising demands from China’s booming economy.
“People are underestimating Chinese demand for natural gas imports,” he said. “But we are ready to meet their demands but not at the expense of Saudi Arabia’s oil markets, particularly the US and Europe.”
Naimi said internal security is an additional concern to Saudi Arabia, which — according to Abdallah S. Jumah, president of Saudi Aramco — has required the Kingdom’s largest oil company to hire 5,000 people to protect its fields, pipelines and terminals.”

Stability fears rise as oil reliance grows

2007-11-20T09:54:00.000-08:00

The world's reliance on oil and gas is set to increase sharply as global energy demand soars by 60% over the next 25 to 30 years, an influential report predicts.
Fossil fuels will continue to dominate global energy use, accounting for some 85% of the increase in world demand," according to the World Energy Outlook 2004.
The good news is that there is plenty of oil and gas in the ground to meet demand. "The Earth's energy resources are more than adequate to meet demand until 2030 and well beyond," the report says.
And the bad news? Well, where to begin?
Pollution threat
The world will have to contend with a predicted 60% rise in "climate-destabilising carbon dioxide" emissions between 2004 and 2030, most of it from cars, trucks and power stations.

More than two thirds of the increase will come from developing countries as a consequence of fast economic growth and a massive rise in car ownership.
"By 2030, they will account for almost half of total demand," according to the report's author, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA).
One way to cut harmful emissions from poor countries would be to reduce what the IEA calls "energy poverty".
"The ranks of those using traditional fuels in unsustainable and inefficient ways for cooking and heating will actually increase," the IEA says.
Despite the sharp rise in overall energy consumption, "a billion and a half of the world's poorest citizens totally lack access to electricity, and almost as many will lack it in the year 2030", says IEA executive director Claude Mandil.
Security
The report also raises concerns about energy security.
It points out that although increasing world trade will strengthen the interdependence between consumer countries and the main producers in the Middle East and Russia, "the world's vulnerability to supply disruptions will [also] increase as international trade expands".

Poor countries will struggle to secure investment in their electricity firms"All the large consuming countries, now including China and India, are growing increasingly dependent on imports from an ever-smaller group of distant producer countries, some of them politically unstable," says Mr Mandil.
"Wells or pipelines could be closed or tankers blocked by piracy, terrorist attacks or accidents," the report says.
As a consequence, "oil markets are likely to become less flexible and prices more volatile", says Mr Mandil, hinting at substantial energy price rises in the years ahead.
Cash call
Another factor that will push prices higher is the increasing cost of extracting oil and other energy sources and delivering them to consumers.

"Meeting projected demand will entail cumulative investment of some $16 trillion from 2003 to 2030, or $568bn per year," the IEA says.
Most of the investment would be absorbed by the electricity sector, and about half of this investment would be required by the developing countries where production and demand are set to increase the most, the IEA says.
"Those countries will face the biggest challenge in raising finance, because their needs are larger relative to the size of their economies and because the investment risks are bigger.
"The global financial system has the capacity to fund the required investments, but it will not do so unless conditions are right."
Less than a fifth of the total energy investment would go to the oil sector and of this $105bn, exploration and development costs will account for about 70%.
Much of the rest would go towards the upgrading of existing installations in developed countries, and there will also be substantial investment in the transport of oil.
New pipelines will be built, but increasingly tankers will take over due to ever longer supply chains.
"Oil prices will play a key role in attracting investment to the sector," the report says, though even here "several factors could discourage or dry up investment in particular regions or sectors".
Pay the price
The IEA draws a gloomy picture of the future, but along with it the agency also offers hope, insisting that its predictions about future trends are "not unalterable".

Alternative energy sources could be made commercially viable"More vigorous government action could steer the world onto a markedly different energy path," it says.
A truly sustainable energy system could be achieved by gearing up the search for "technological breakthroughs that radically alter how we produce and use energy", the report says.
In the short term, "carbon capture and storage technologies... hold out the tantalising prospect of using fossil fuels in a carbon-free way", while in the long run "advanced nuclear-reactor designs or breakthrough renewable technologies could one day help free us from our dependence on fossil fuels", the IEA says.
Market forces could be actively employed by governments to push for such developments by incorporating the "full cost of energy - including environmental costs", the report argues.
This should make alternative technologies, which currently appear to be expensive, seem like reasonable alternatives.

List of petroleum companies

2007-11-20T09:46:00.000-08:00

Discovery of oil in South East Asia - History of an oil town.

2007-11-18T23:48:00.000-08:00

Earth Oil - the discovery...

The story begins with a Mr. C.C. (Claude Champion) de Crespigny, then the Resident of Baram, who was the first to record the presence of oil in Sarawak. The entry in his diary, dated 31st July 1882, refers to oil discovered in some 18 wells dug by hand by the local inhabitants.
'Earth Oil' was their name for it. Ever since this strange substance appeared in seepages, its possibilities had begun to be realised. They used the oil mixed with resin for chaulking boats. They also tried to use it for lighting, employing an open wick, but it invariably caught fire, usually with disastrous results to their homes. 'Earth Oil' soon earned a reputation of being possessed by a 'hantu' (ghost/spirit) with an inconvenient and insatiable desire to burn down houses.
But now officialdom had recognised its existance. De Crespigny recommended, in his report to the Rajah of Sarawak, Sir Charles Brooke, that an investigation be made. The Rajah presumably never gave this a second thought, since nothing was done. After all, the year was 1882 and the demand for petroleum in Sarawak was nil.
The persistent de Crespigny, however, obviously saw more of a future oil than the Rajah did. In 1884, we find him again suggesting that the whole area be "thoroughly searched and reported on."
The man who was to take him seriously and who was to do just this was de Crespigny's successor, a Dr. Charles Hose, who became the Resident in 1888. Sarawak's oil industry owes much to him.
Charles Hose was born in October 1863. He was at Jesus College, Cambridge, when his uncle, the Bishop of Singapore, obtained for him a cadetship in the Sarawak civil service; his first post was at Claudetown, (now Marudi) a small settlement then some two day's journey up the Baram River. His predecessor's notes prompted him to explore and map the seepages in the Baram District. His journeys were numerous during which, part from building up an invaluable collection of data on Sarawak's natural history, he discovered a number of oil shows. These he reported to the Government, who duly secured the services of an English geologist. The latter registered a very adverse opinion of the oil prospects, no doubt assessing any value that the oil had, against the engineering and transportation problems which, at that time, must have appeared insurmountable.
Hose was certain however that, with proper management and skill, the oil could be worked commercially. Whatever time allowed, he visited the area and made a map of the district, carefully marking in all seepages. He encouraged the local inhabitants to help him search offering small rewards for any seepages they discovered.
In 1907, Hose returned to England on pension. The Rajah was living in Cirencester at the time and Hose wrote to him asking permission to show his map of the oil seepages and samples of the oil to "an oil company." After some correspondence, the Rajah invited him to discuss the matter with him. Hose's task was no easy one. Sir Charles was then approaching 80 years of age, and was strongly opposed to anything "new-fangled". He even refused to have electric light installed in his Istana. But he gave way.
Hose travelled immediately to London. The "Oil Company" he had in mind happened to be Anglo-Saxon Petroleum, one of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies. He sa Mr. H.N. Benjamin. Benjamin and his collegues showed interest in Hose's map and in the samples which they analysed. Following negotiations, the Rajah was informed and agreed to come to London to sign the concession and lease.
Hose was invited to return to Sarawak with Dr. Erb, the petroleum company' petroleum expert. They returned by way of the Trans-Siberian railway. On arriving at Kuching, they called on the Rajah, then back in residence, before proceeding to Miri. Dr. Erb seems to have been impressed but cautious regarding prospects of oil. He carried out a general geological survey of a large part of the northern Sarawak and reported back in person to the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company confirming the existence at Miri of a dome-shaped, unsymmetrical anticline with a steep eastern flank and numerous oil shows.

Top petroleum non-producing and consuming countries

2007-11-18T23:39:00.002-08:00

1 Japan
2 Germany
3 India
4 South Korea
5 France
6 Italy
7 Spain
8 Netherlands

Top petroleum-importing countries

2007-11-18T23:36:00.000-08:00

In order of net imports in 2006:

1 United States
2 Japan
3 China
4 Germany
5 South Korea
6 France
7 India
8 Italy
9 Spain
10 Taiwan
11 Netherlands
12 Singapore
13 Thailand
14 Turkey
15 Belgium

Top petroleum-consuming countries

2007-11-18T23:31:00.000-08:00

In order of amount consumed in 2006:

1 United States
2 China
3 Japan
4 Russia
5 Germany
6 India
7 Canada
8 Brazil
9 South Korea
10 Saudi Arabia (OPEC)
11 Mexico
12 France
13 United Kingdom
14 Italy
15 Iran (OPEC)

Top petroleum-exporting countries

2007-11-18T23:20:00.000-08:00

In order of net exports in 2006:

1 Saudi Arabia (OPEC)
2 Russia
3 Norway
4 Iran (OPEC)
5 United Arab Emirates (OPEC)
6 Venezuela (OPEC)
7 Kuwait (OPEC)
8 Nigeria (OPEC)
9 Algeria (OPEC)
10 Mexico
11 Libya (OPEC)
12 Iraq (OPEC)
13 Angola (OPEC)
14 Kazakhstan
15 Canada

Top petroleum-producing countries

2007-11-18T11:40:00.001-08:00

In order of amount produced in 2006 in thousand bbl/d and thousand m³/d:

# Producing Nation (2006) (103bbl/d) (103m3/d)
1 Saudi Arabia (OPEC) 10,719 1,704
2
Russia 1
9,668
1,537
3
United States 1
8,367
1,330
4
Iran (OPEC)
4,146
659
5
China
3,836
610
6
Mexico 1
3,706
589
7
Canada 2
3,289
523
8
United Arab Emirates (OPEC)
2,938
467
9
Venezuela (OPEC) 1
2,803
446
10
Norway 1
2,785
443
11
Kuwait (OPEC)
2,674
425
12
Nigeria (OPEC)
2,443
388
13
Brazil
2,163
344
14
Algeria (OPEC)
2,122
337
15
Iraq (OPEC) 3
2,008
319

Top petroleum-producing countries

2007-11-18T11:40:00.000-08:00

In order of amount produced in 2006 in thousand bbl/d and thousand m³/d:

# Producing Nation (2006) (103bbl/d) (103m3/d)
1 Saudi Arabia (OPEC) 10,719 1,704
2 Russia 1 9,668 1,537
3 United States 1 8,367 1,330
4 Iran (OPEC) 4,146 659
5 China 3,836 610
6 Mexico 1 3,706 589
7 Canada 2 3,289 523
8 United Arab Emirates (OPEC) 2,938 467
9 Venezuela (OPEC) 1 2,803 446
10 Norway 1 2,785 443
11 Kuwait (OPEC) 2,674 425
12 Nigeria (OPEC) 2,443 388
13 Brazil 2,163 344
14 Algeria (OPEC) 2,122 337
15 Iraq (OPEC) 3 2,008 319

Petroleum efficiency among countries

2007-11-18T11:33:00.000-08:00

There are two main ways to measure the petroleum efficiency of countries: by population or by GDP (gross domestic product). This metric is important in the global debate over oil consumption/energy consumption/climate change because it takes social and economic considerations into account when scoring countries on their oil consumption/energy consumption/climate change goals. Nations such as China and India with large populations tend to promote the use of population based metrics, while nations with large economies such as the United States would tend to promote the GDP based metric.

1. Selected Nations
Oil Efficiency (US dollar/barrel/day)
Switzerland
3.75
United Kingdom
3.34
Norway
3.31
Austria
2.96
France
2.65
Germany
2.89
Sweden
2.71
Italy
2.57
European Union
2.52
DRC
2.4
Japan
2.34
Australia
2.21
Spain
1.96
Bangladesh
1.93
Poland
1.87
United States
1.65
Belgium
1.59
World
1.47
Turkey
1.39
Canada
1.35
Mexico
1.07
Ethiopia
1.04
South Korea
1.00
Philippines
1.00
Brazil
0.99
Taiwan
0.98
China
0.94
Nigeria
0.94
Pakistan
0.93
Myanmar
0.89
India
0.86
Russia
0.84
Indonesia
0.71
Vietnam
0.61
Thailand
0.53
Saudi Arabia
0.46
Egypt
0.41
Singapore
0.40
Iran
0.35

2. Selected Nations
Oil Efficiency (barrel/person/year)
DRC
0.13
Ethiopia
0.37
Bangladesh
0.57
Myanmar
0.73
Pakistan
1.95
Nigeria
2.17
India
2.18
Vietnam
2.70
Philippines
3.77
Indonesia
4.63
China
4.96
Egypt
7.48
Turkey
9.85
Brazil
11.67
Poland
11.67
World
12.55
Thailand
13.86
Russia
17.66
Mexico
18.07
Iran
21.56
European Union
29.70
United Kingdom
30.18
Germany
32.31
France
32.43
Italy
32.43
Austria
34.01
Spain
35.18
Switzerland
34.64
Sweden
34.68
Taiwan
41.68
Japan
42.01
Australia
42.22
South Korea
43.84
Norway
52.06
Belgium
61.52
United States
68.81
Canada
69.85
Saudi Arabia
75.08
Singapore
178.45

(Note: The figure for Singapore is skewed because of its smallpopulation compared with its large oil refining capacity.Most of this oil is sent to other countries.)

The future of petroleum production

2007-11-18T01:03:00.000-08:00

Hubbert peak theory.
The Hubbert peak theory (also known as peak oil) is a proposition which predicts that future world petroleum production must inevitably reach a peak and then decline at a similar rate to the rate of increase before the peak as these reserves are exhausted. It also suggests a method to calculate mathematically the timing of this peak, based on past production rates, past discovery rates, and proven oil reserves.
Controversy surrounds the theory for numerous reasons. Past predictions regarding the timing of the global peak have failed, causing a number of observers to disregard the theory. Further, predictions regarding the timing of the peak are highly dependent on the past production and discovery data used in the calculation.
Proponents of peak oil theory also refer as an example of their theory, that when any given oil well produces oil in similar volumes to the amount of water used to obtain the oil, it tends to produce less oil afterwards, leading to the relatively quick exhaustion and/or commercial inviability of the well in question.
The issue can be considered from the point of view of individual regions or of the world as a whole. Hubbert's prediction for when US oil production would peak turned out to be correct, and after this occurred in 1971 - causing the US to lose its excess production capacity - OPEC was finally able to manipulate oil prices, which led to the 1973 oil crisis. Since then, most other countries have also peaked: the United Kingdom's North Sea, for example in the late 1990s. China has confirmed that two of its largest producing regions are in decline, and Mexico's national oil company, Pemex, has announced that Cantarell Field, one of the world's largest offshore fields, was expected to peak in 2006, and then decline 14% per annum.
It is difficult to predict the oil peak in any given region (due to the lack of transparency in accounting of global oil reserves [18]) . Based on available production data, proponents have previously (and incorrectly) predicted the peak for the world to be in years 1989, 1995, or 1995-2000. Some of these predictions date from before the recession of the early 1980s, and the consequent reduction in global consumption, the effect of which was to delay the date of any peak by several years. A new prediction by Goldman Sachs picks 2007 for oil and some time later for natural gas. [citation needed] Just as the 1971 U.S. peak in oil production was only clearly recognized after the fact, a peak in world production will be difficult to discern until production clearly drops off.
Many proponents of the Hubbert peak theory expound the belief that the production peak is imminent, for various reasons. The year 2005 saw a dramatic fall in announced new oil projects coming to production from 2008 onwards - in order to avoid the peak, these new projects would have to not only make up for the depletion of current fields, but increase total production annually to meet increasing demand.
The year 2005 also saw substantial increases in oil prices due to a number of circumstances, including war and political instability. Oil prices rose to new highs. Analysts such as Kenneth Deffeyes [19] argue that these price increases indicate a general lack of spare capacity, and the price fluctuations can be interpreted as a sign that peak oil is imminent.

Alternatives to petroleum

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Alternatives to petroleum-based vehicle fuels
Main articles: Alternative propulsion, Biofuel, Fuel economy, and Hydrogen economy
The term alternative propulsion or "alternative methods of propulsion" includes both:
alternative fuels used in standard or modified internal combustion engines (i.e. combustion hydrogen or biofuels).
propulsion systems not based on internal combustion, such as those based on electricity (for example, all-electric or hybrid vehicles), compressed air, or fuel cells (i.e. hydrogen fuel cells).
Nowadays, cars can be classified between the next main groups:
Petro-cars, this is, only use petroleum and biofuels (biodiesel and biobutanol).
Hybrid vehicle and plug-in hybrids, that use petroleum and other source, generally, electricity.
Petrofree car, that can not use petroleum, like electric cars, hydrogen vehicles...

Environmental effects

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The presence of oil has significant social and environmental impacts, from accidents and routine activities such as seismic exploration, drilling, and generation of polluting wastes not produced by other alternative energies.

Extraction
Oil extraction is costly and sometimes environmentally damaging, although Dr. John Hunt of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution pointed out in a 1981 paper that over 70% of the reserves in the world are associated with visible macroseepages, and many oil fields are found due to natural leaks. Offshore exploration and extraction of oil disturbs the surrounding marine environment. [16] But at the same time, offshore oil platforms also form micro-habitats for marine creatures. Extraction may involve dredging, which stirs up the seabed, killing the sea plants that marine creatures need to survive.

Oil spills

Volunteers cleaning up the aftermath of the Prestige oil spill
Crude oil and refined fuel spills from tanker ship accidents have damaged natural ecosystems in Alaska, the Galapagos Islands, France and many other places and times in Spain (i.e. Ibiza).
The quantity of oil spilled during accidents has ranged from a few hundred tons to several hundred thousand tons (Atlantic Empress, Amoco Cadiz...). Smaller spills have already proven to have a great impact on ecosystems, such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill

Global warming
Main article: Global warming
Burning oil releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. Per energy unit, oil produces less CO2 than coal, but more than natural gas. However, oil's unique role as a transportation fuel makes reducing its CO2 emissions a particularly thorny problem; amelioration strategies such as carbon sequestering are generally geared for large power plants, not individual vehicles.

Whales
It has been argued that the advent of petroleum-refined kerosene saved the great cetaceans from extinction by providing a cheap substitute for whale oil, thus eliminating the economic imperative for whaling

Uses

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The chemical structure of petroleum is composed of hydrocarbon chains of different lengths. Because of this, petroleum may be taken to oil refineries and the hydrocarbon chemicals separated by distillation and treated by other chemical processes, to be used for a variety of purposes. See Petroleum products.

[edit] Fuels
Further information: alternative fuel
Ethane and other short-chain alkanes which are used as fuel
Diesel fuel (petrodiesel)
Fuel oils
Gasoline
Jet fuel
Kerosene
Liquid petroleum gas (LPG)
Natural gas
Generally used in transportation, power plants and heating.
Petroleum vehicles are internal combustion engine vehicles.

[edit] Other derivatives
Certain types of resultant hydrocarbons may be mixed with other non-hydrocarbons, to create other end products:
Alkenes (olefins) which can be manufactured into plastics or other compounds
Lubricants (produces light machine oils, motor oils, and greases, adding viscosity stabilizers as required).
Wax, used in the packaging of frozen foods, among others.
Sulfur or Sulfuric acid. These are a useful industrial materials. Sulfuric acid is usually prepared as the acid precursor oleum, a byproduct of sulfur removal from fuels.
Bulk tar.
Asphalt
Petroleum coke, used in speciality carbon products or as solid fuel.
Paraffin wax
Aromatic petrochemicals to be used as precursors in other chemical production.

History of Petroleum

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Petroleum, in some form or other, is not a substance new in the world's history. More than four thousand years ago, according to Herodotus and confirmed by Diodorus Siculus, asphalt was employed in the construction of the walls and towers of Babylon; there were oil pits near Ardericca (near Babylon), and a pitch spring on Zacynthus.[10] Great quantities of it were found on the banks of the river Issus, one of the tributaries of the Euphrates. Ancient Persian tablets indicate the medicinal and lighting uses of petroleum in the upper levels of their society.
The earliest known oil wells were drilled in China in 347 CE or earlier. They had depths of up to about 800 feet (244 m) and were drilled using bits attached to bamboo poles.[11] The oil was burned to evaporate brine and produce salt. By the 10th century, extensive bamboo pipelines connected oil wells with salt springs. The ancient records of China and Japan are said to contain many allusions to the use of natural gas for lighting and heating. Petroleum was known as burning water in Japan in the 7th century. [10]
The Middle East petroleum industry was established by the 8th century, when the streets of the newly constructed Baghdad were paved with tar, derived from easily accessible petroleum from natural fields in the region. In the 9th century, oil fields were exploited in the area around modern Baku, Azerbaijan, to produce naphtha. These fields were described by the geographer Masudi in the 10th century, and by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who described the output of those wells as hundreds of shiploads. Petroleum was distilled by Persian chemist al-Razi in the 9th century, producing chemicals such as kerosene in the al-ambiq (alembic). [12] (See also: Alchemy (Islam), Islamic science, and Timeline of science and technology in the Islamic world.)
The earliest mention of American petroleum occurs in Sir Walter Raleigh's account of the Trinidad Pitch Lake in 1595; whilst thirty-seven years later, the account of a visit of a Franciscan, Joseph de la Roche d'Allion, to the oil springs of New York was published in Sagard's Histoire du Canada. A Russian traveller, Peter Kalm, in his work on America published in 1748 showed on a map the oil springs of Pennsylvania. [10]
In 1711 the Greek physician Eyrini d’Eyrinis discovered asphalt at Val-de-Travers, (Neuchâtel). He established a bitumen mine de la Presta there in 1719 that operated until 1986. [13][14]
Oil sands were mined from 1745 in Merkwiller-Pechelbronn, Alsace under the direction of Louis Pierre Ancillon de la Sablonnière, by special appointement of Louis XV.[15] The Pechelbronn oil field was active until 1970, and was the birth place of companies like Antar and Schlumberger. The first modern refinery was built there in 1857.[15]
The modern history of petroleum began in 1846 with the discovery of the process of refining kerosene from coal by Nova Scotian Abraham Pineo Gesner.
Ignacy Łukasiewicz improved Gesner's method to develop a means of refining kerosene from the more readily available "rock oil" ("petr-oleum") seeps in 1852 and the first rock oil mine was built in Bóbrka, near Krosno in Galicia in the following year. These discoveries rapidly spread around the world, and Meerzoeff built the first Russian refinery in the mature oil fields at Baku in 1861. At that time Baku produced about 90% of the world's oil.
The first commercial oil well drilled in North America was in Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada in 1858, dug by James Miller Williams. The US petroleum industry began with Edwin Drake's drilling of a 69-foot (21 m) oil well in 1859, on Oil Creek near Titusville, Pennsylvania, for the Seneca Oil Company (originally yielding 25 barrels a day, by the end of the year output was at the rate of 15 barrels). [10] The industry grew slowly in the 1800s, driven by the demand for kerosene and oil lamps. It became a major national concern in the early part of the 20th century; the introduction of the internal combustion engine provided a demand that has largely sustained the industry to this day. Early "local" finds like those in Pennsylvania and Ontario were quickly outpaced by demand, leading to "oil booms" in Texas, Oklahoma, and California.
Early production of crude petroleum in the United States: [10]
1859: 2,000 barrels (~340 t)
1869: 4,215,000 barrels (~721,000 t)
1879: 19,914,146 barrels (~3,410,000 t)
1889: 35,163,513 barrels (~6,020,000 t)
1899: 57,084,428 barrels (~9,770,000 t)
1906: 126,493,936 barrels (~21,600,000 t)
By 1910, significant oil fields had been discovered in Canada (specifically, in the province of Ontario), the Dutch East Indies (1885, in Sumatra), Iran (1908, in Masjed Soleiman), Peru, Venezuela, and Mexico, and were being developed at an industrial level.
Even until the mid-1950s, coal was still the world's foremost fuel, but oil quickly took over. Following the 1973 energy crisis and the 1979 energy crisis, there was significant media coverage of oil supply levels. This brought to light the concern that oil is a limited resource that will eventually run out, at least as an economically viable energy source. At the time, the most common and popular predictions were always quite dire, and when they did not come true, many dismissed all such discussion. The future of petroleum as a fuel remains somewhat controversial. USA Today news (2004) reports that there are 40 years of petroleum left in the ground. Some[citation needed] argue that because the total amount of petroleum is finite, the dire predictions of the 1970s have merely been postponed. Others [citation needed] claim that technology will continue to allow for the production of cheap hydrocarbons and that the earth has vast sources of unconventional petroleum reserves in the form of tar sands, bitumen fields and oil shale that will allow for petroleum use to continue in the future, with both the Canadian tar sands and United States shale oil deposits representing potential reserves matching existing liquid petroleum deposits worldwide.
Today, about 90% of vehicular fuel needs are met by oil. Petroleum also makes up 40% of total energy consumption in the United States, but is responsible for only 2% of electricity generation. Petroleum's worth as a portable, dense energy source powering the vast majority of vehicles and as the base of many industrial chemicals makes it one of the world's most important commodities. Access to it was a major factor in several military conflicts including World War II and the Persian Gulf Wars of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The top three oil producing countries are Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United States. About 80% of the world's readily accessible reserves are located in the Middle East, with 62.5% coming from the Arab 5: Saudi Arabia (12.5%), UAE, Iraq, Qatar and Kuwait. However, with today's oil prices, Venezuela has larger reserves than Saudi Arabia due to crude reserves derived from bitumen.

Petroleum

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Petroleum (Latin Petroleum derived from Greek πέτρα (Latin petra) - rock + έλαιον (Latin oleum) - oil) or crude oil is a naturally occurring liquid found in formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons (mostly alkanes) of various lengths. The approximate length range is C5H12 to C18H38. Any shorter hydrocarbons are considered natural gas or natural gas liquids, while long-chain hydrocarbons are more viscous, and the longest chains are paraffin wax. In its naturally occurring form, it may contain other nonmetallic elements such as sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.[1] It is usually black or dark brown (although it may be yellowish or even greenish) but varies greatly in appearance, depending on its composition. Crude oil may also be found in semi-solid form mixed with sand, as in the Athabasca oil sands in Canada, where it may be referred to as crude