I'm doing a project and I need to know what exactly crude oil is for and why it is so important...well I know it's important because gasoline, but anything else?
137607
There are alot of resources online pertaining to that, but other than gasoline, crude oil, can be processed further by fractional distillation, using a fractionating column.\n\nOther products such as petrol, diesel, kerosene, lubricating oils can be derived from crude oil alone. Plastic also partly comes from crude oil.
401398
I'm thinking it would be about the size of, oh say, a planet. Oil is a product of fossil fuels. Long dead and buried by time biological creatures that become compressed to crude oil over time and planetary pressure. As long as things keep dying and compressing, we will have new sources of crude, however, if it is pulled out faster then it is replenished it will create a void in supply.
376834
OIL OIL OIL OIL OIL OIL...did I mention OIL???
77785
Oil officials 10, 20, 30, and 40 years ago said AT THAT TIME that we were going to use up what was known to be total global "proven oil reserves." We keep finding more total oil reserves every few years than was thought to exist worldwide a few years previous - kind of funny logic, isn't it? If we keep finding more oil that exceeded known reserves just a few years back, then what are we so concerned about? Interestingly enough, at the same time we keep finding more proven oil reserves, people keep screaming more and more that we are running out of oil - who is right? History says we can keep finding oil, so maybe there is a regenerative process unknown to the scientific community - they can't possibly know everything about everything. \n\nOnly one thing is certain in SCIENCE: it IS ALWAYS CHANGING. Geologists have been getting better year after year at locating oil reserves, and yet so little is known about oil reserves other than location. What is understood to be fact now will be ridiculed in the future by new theories - which have already happened. They thought we couldn't use most crude oil in the early 20th century because nobody knew about cracking or synthesis of crude products, so they just dumped unusable crude products that were not immediately usable as gasoline or diesel. We have come very far since that time in chemistry alone. \n\nIsn't it interesting that what is vaguely understood by a few scientists is continuously spouted as "truth" by those who know far less. SCIENTIFIC FACT IS CHANGEABLE, meaning it can be tested, and if a different result occurs, then the theory changes, resetting what is known as "fact." Oil may be replenishable, and may not necessarily only come from prehistoric plants and animals as current thought suggests. You raise an interesting argument about oil resources, and only the future will let us know for sure - but there will be a definitive answer. Now, who is ready for the truth?
80596
Because oil means much more to them than soil.
616953
The answer to your question depends on where you are located and which fuel quality standard you are working against.\n\nTypical diesel fuel quality looks at :\n\nDensity\nSulphur Content\nFlash Point\nViscosity\nCorrosivity (Cu) \nStorage Stability\nBTU content\nWater Content\nAcidity/Alkalinity\n\nThese tests will all be relevant for biodiesel.\n\nDensity is important because it is a relative measure of fuel energy content - although this is better defined using BTU.\n\nFlash Point is important as it denotes both the relative safety factor for the fuel and, in the case of biodiesel, relative residual methanol content. The flash point should be > 60C \n\nSulphur content - regulated depending on local laws - usually < 50ppm. Shouldn't be a problem for biodiesel but may be indicative of residual sulphuric acid if using a two stage transester reaction.\n\nViscosity - important because the fuel system needs to have a relatively low viscosity fluid to operate efficiently. High viscosity is undesirable and viscosity can be affected by choice of base vegetable oil / fat used.\n\nCorrosivity - Important  as we don't wish to corrode fuel systems! Also important because if the fuel is corrosive to copper, the most common test metal, it is also likley to have a low stability. Copper ions catalyse the degradation of many fuels and many fuel systems contain copper.\n\nStorage stability - Commercial fuels may be stored for indeterminant amounts of time - a minimum storage stability of 12 - 18 months is desireable.\n\nBTU Content - a measure of the energy in the fuel.\n\nWater content - linked to stability and corrosion but also just not something desireable in the average fuel system.\n\nAcidity/Alkalinity - probably more a question of residual alkalinity in biodiesel as a measure of how well "washed" the fuel is. Probably better to measure Na/K ppm, but this isn't as easy for the "backyarder".\n\nHow to test :\n\nYou can do Density, viscosity and flash point by relatively simple modifications of the ASTM standard tests. Density is by hydrometer, viscosity by flow comparison with standard diesel and flash point by an "open cup" flash test (long match / small beaker).\n\nThe other tests are more difficult and require a full lab.
210792
Not exactly what you're looking for, but this is imports: http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html\n\nProduction for the US: http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/infosheets/crudeproduction.htm\n\nA few major countries:\nhttp://www.chartoftheday.com/20060120.htm?T\n\nThis one is for 2004:\nhttp://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/topworldtables1_2.html\n\nYou can probably find a similar for 2005.\n\nThe main page is here: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/info_glance/petroleum.html
48858
That question can’t be answered until you tell us what we mean by ‘supply’. Oil supplies are measured in 3 basic ways.\n\nThe first type of supply is the liquid crude reserve supply. This is the amount of liquid oil that we absolutely, definitely know we can make a prophet out of at today’s prices and using today’s technology.  We have drilled well into reserve supplies, we know they are there, we know how much and we know the quality. Proven reserves are in the 1017-981 billion barrel range. (See link 1 below)\n\nThe second type is the  liquid crude  resource supply. This is the amount of liquid oil that we know exists in the ground that we can reasonably expect to be able to get to if we need it. We haven’t fully explored resource supplies. There might have been a few test holes drilled and various seismic tests but at the moment it’s not worth doing more detailed investigation because it isn’t profitable enough. Current estimates of world liquid oil resources range from 2, 248 to 3, 896 billion barrels. (See link 2 below).\n\nThen come the non-liquid oil resources. These are massive. They include tar sands and oil shales amongst other things. Although Canada has been profitably extracting sand oil for decades it is less profitable than drilling for liquid crude oil, so nobody has fully explored the extent of sand and shale oil. We know it’s huge, far larger than the amount of liquid crude ever discovered. But just how large is uncertain. Best estimates say that worldwide tar sands amount to 6,200 billion barrels with 890 billion\nbarrels being “recoverable”, while oil shale  in the US alone amounts to some 160,000 billion barrels (see link 3 below).\n\n______________\n>>>> guess-timates put our production peak around 25 years.\n\nNo, they don't. They put our liquid crude peak at around then, but the question asked about all oil, not just liquid crude. The leak for all oil won't come for another 100 years or so.
231208
Gas is gunna keep going up and no its not over priced its what we get for relying on it soo much we might see it go down a bit but its gunna keep going up as the months go on we are coming to a point were its becoming harder and harder to find oil and especially when we do find it its in contries that dont wanna give it up or charge tons per barrel soo i suggest you looking into a hybrid! or a smart car by Mercedez and Swatch.. the less we rely on oil the cleaner the earth the worlds biggest glaciers right now are wabling on giant rocks and scientist belive that at anytime the glaciers could fall into the ocean causing water levels to rise up atleast a 2-3 metres causing huge problems and they say due to this the whole world would have different climates then they do now such as ONT Canada would be a desert I hope this helped good luck!  \n\nBlake C.
319050
http://www.freedomfuelamerica.com/\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel\n\nGive that a shot.  The first one actually sells the refining unit itself and the second one is the straight Wikipedia definition of it, though you may have seen it already.
227616
I think we are going to run out of crude oil.  We have such a need for it, that we will be in a lot of trouble.
203729
Study petroleum engineering...
230960
Of course the main issue is and always will be competition. But as a product standpoint it would have to be rising manufacturing, shipping, and product costs due to the increase in energy prices.  Oil is used in more than just vehicles; it's used in many products or the manufacturing of them.  We have already seen the increase of "Oil" not only in our fuels but in consumer price index that rose last week.  It's a trend that will not fall until alternative energy sources are more widely embraced by the market.
575098
This site may lead you to the information you seek.\n\nhttp://www.petrochemistry.net/index.asp
124818
We have our own oil refinerys.  The problem with a lot of them is that they were built in the 1970s and need to be upgraded big time or new ones need to built.  The problem there lies within the fact that no one wants an oil refinery in their back yard.  And to be honest, we get most of our oil from Canada.
68138
It's timely that you ask this question - I am currently reading the book, "The End of Oil," which addresses this very issue.  I've only just begun the book, but it looks like we have another 30 years before the oil supply will start seeing a sharp decrease.  The fall in the oil supply will coincide with an increase in demand for energy, which spells TROUBLE.  Hopefully within 30 years time our brilliant engineers and scientists will have come up with a solution to the volatile and dangerous nature of hydrogen...
54773
- Petroleum Engineering that involves the extraction, purification, production and utilization of petroleum and natural gas.\n- It involves in the exploration and production activities of petroleum at the upstream end of the energy sector. \n- The diverse topics covered by petroleum engineering are closely related to the earth sciences. \n- Petroleum engineering topics include geology, geochemistry, geophysics, oil drilling, well logging, well completion, oil and gas production, reservoir development, and pipelining. \n------------