Oil prices have recently had a spike in price. This has sparked conversations on inflated pricing in the future. We use oil every day, but how was it it made?
Oil is a thick black substance that’s also called a fossil fuel. Fossil fuels are nonrenewable fuels that had been formed from the geological past of the remains of organisms. Millions of years ago, the remains of plants and animals from a marine environment were covered by layers of land, silt, and rocks. The heat and pressure from the layers formed a liquid called petroleum, or “crude oil“.
Crude oil is found in underground pools, or reservoirs, between the sedimentary rocks in tar near the earths surface. It’s removed from the ground by drilling with an apparatus called an oil rig, or oil platform (if offshore). After being removed it’s sent to a refinery where the oil is made into products such as gasoline, lubricating oils, and asphalt.
Check out this article by National Geographic to dive deeper into the chemistry of petroleum.
