The word petroleum comes from Medieval Latin petroleum (literally 'rock oil'), which comes from Latin petra 'rock' … See more

Petroleum, in one form or another, has been used since ancient times. More than 4300 years ago, bitumen was mentioned when the Sumerians used it to make boats. A tablet of the legend of the birth of Sargon of Akkad mentions … See more

Petroleum consists of a variety of liquid, gaseous, and solid components. Lighter hydrocarbons are the gases methane, ethane, propane and butane. Otherwise, the bulk of the liquid and solids are largely heavier org… See more

Petroleum is a fossil fuel derived from fossilized organic materials, such as zooplankton and algae. Vast amounts of these remains settled to sea or lake bottoms where they were covered in stagnant w… See more

Three conditions must be present for oil reservoirs to form:
• A source rock rich in hydrocarbon material buried deeply enough for subterranean heat to cook it into oil,
• A porous and permeable reservoir … See more

The petroleum industry generally classifies crude oil by the geographic location it is produced in (e.g., West Texas Intermediate, Brent, or Oman), its API gravity (an oil industry measure of density), and its sulfur content. Cr… See more