Crude oil

Introduction to Crude Oil

• One of the most important chemicals in modern life
• Used for a variety of useful products such as petrol, diesel, ethane, lubricating oil and bitumen (used for surfacing roads)
• Crude oil is also used as feedstock for the petrochemical industry
• Crude oil is a finite resource
• Burning fossil fuels is a leading cause of global warming
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Making crude oil useful

• The crude oil that is extracted from the ground is made up of a mixture of different hydrocarbons
• It is quite useless in this form and must undergo further processing in order to be made into a useful resource
• See later resources for more detail on this process
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Economic and political issues

• If war or political upheaval in a major oil producing country restricts the supplies of oil, this can have a major effect on the world economy
• Countries that cannot produce their own oil are left at the whims of oil producing countries who are able to set the prices of oil
• If a poor country cannot buy all the oil it needs, there may areas deprived of electricity
• Oil producing countries can, in effect, hold other countries to ransom by cutting off the oil supply if there is a political disagreement
• However, oil industry also produces many jobs
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Social and environmental issues

• Burning fossil fuels contributes to the greenhouse effect and global warming
• Accidents while transport oil can lead to major oil pollution incidents which damage local wildlife
• These incidents also can affect the tourist industry in affected areas
• Oil powered stations take up a great deal of land and are not particularly attractive
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