Petroleum

Petroleum (from Greek petra – rock and oleum – oil), crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold, is a thick, dark brown or greenish liquid. A widely believed myth is that the oil itself is flammable, however it is actually the gas that evaporates from the oil that is flammable. Petroleum exists in the upper strata of some areas of the Earth's crust. Another name is naphtha, from Persian naft or nafátá (to flow). It consists of a complex mixture of various hydrocarbons, largely of the alkane series, but may vary much in appearance, composition, and purity. It is an important "primary energy" source (IEA Key World Energy Statistics). Petroleum is also the raw material for many chemical products, including solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, and plastics.

External links

• American Petroleum Institute - A site run by the American Petroleum Institute, the trade association of the US oil industry.
• US Energy Information Administration - Part of the informative website of the US Government's Energy Information Administration.
• Major dates of the Polish petroleum industry
• Dismissal of the Claims of a Biological Connection for Natural Petroleum.
• Abiogenic Gas Debate 11:2002 (EXPLORER)
• An introduction to the modern petroleum science, and to the Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins.
• Unconventional Ideas About Unconventional Gas (Society of Petroleum Engineers)
• BP Statistical Revue of World Energy
• Nymex - oil trading center of the US
• Bloomberg Energy Prices - current prices on world mercantile exchanges
• Oil Marketer - oil news and market information
• Oil in troubled waters - Economist article on investor approaches to oil markets, supply, and future

Articles

• The End of the Age of Oil - article adapted from a talk by Caltech vice provost and professor of physics David Goodstein
• The Politics of Oil - A report on the oil industry's influence of lawmakers and public policy by the Center for Public Integrity.
• BBC: Stability fears rise as oil reliance grows
• Top Saudi Says Kingdom Has Plenty of Oil "261 billion barrels in reserve..."
• Lee Raymond of Exxon Mobile believes oil supplies will rise
• Known Saudi Arabian Oil Reserves Tripled
• Pemex's oil estimates double: Mexican Oil company's estimate of reserves doubled.
• Dismissal of the Claims of a Biological Connection for Natural Petroleum {{ref|Kenney2001}}
• Abiogenic Gas Debate 11:2002 (EXPLORER)

Data

• Department of Energy EIA - World supply and consumption
• US petroleum prices

References

• {{note|Kenney2002}} {{Journal reference | Author=Kenney, J., Kutcherov, V., Bendeliani, N. and Alekseev, V. | Title= The evolution of multicomponent systems at high pressures: VI. The thermodynamic stability of the hydrogen?carbon system: The genesis of hydrocarbons and the origin of petroleum | Journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. | Volume=99 | Year=2002 | Pages=10976-10981}} Article link
• {{note|Kenney2001}} {{Journal reference | Author=Kenney, J., Shnyukov, A., Krayushkin, V., Karpov, I., Kutcherov, V. and Plotnikova, I. | Title= Dismissal of the claims of a biological connection for natural petroleum | Journal=Energia | Volume=22 | Issue=3 | Year=2001 | Pages=26-34}}