Petroleum

Formation

  • Fossil fuels are the product of millions of years of photosynthesis stored and processed under heat and pressure
  • Most fuel is found in rocks from about 50-450 million years ago
  • Limestone, sandstone, and shale

Petroleum/ Crude Oil

This is a primary source that is liquid hydrocarbons found in rock deposits.

Natural Gas

This is a primary source that is gaseous hydrocarbons found in rock deposits, sometimes together with liquid oil, sometimes without.

Light/Heavy

Light crude oil has smaller molecules on average and heavy crude oil has larger ones.

Sweet/Sour

Sweet crude oil is less than 1% sulfur, while sour crude oil is around 1-2% sulfur.

Gasoline

Gasoline is a secondary energy source created from crude oil in refineries.

  • Lighter molecules rise to the top of distillation towers

Flows

Source: EIA
Source: EIA

Stakeholders

  • Oil field labor
  • Oil field owners
  • Refinery labor
  • Refinery owners
  • Automobile drivers
  • Political leaders

Techno-economic perspectives

  • Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling
  • Internal combustion engine
  • Oil has high energy density
  • Oil is easily stored and transported
  • Natural gas is liquified for overseas export

Internal Combustion Engines

  • Combustion: Gasoline and Oxygen
  • Expansion: Combustion gasses expand
  • Linear Kinetic Energy: pushes on piston
  • Rotational Kinetic Energy: piston pushes on crankshaft

Prices

Source: Wikimedia

Bloomberg Energy

Environmental Perspectives

  • Lead/MTBE
    • Tailpipe Emissions
    • Storage spills
  • Oil spills
    • Exxon Valdez 1989 Prince William Sound, Alaska
    • Deepwater Horizon explosion 2010
  • GHG gases

Socio-Technical perspectives

  • Jobs Data
  • Geopolitical conflicts
  • Resource curse

Policy

  • Crude export ban 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act
  • Ban lifted in 2015

Fossil Fuel Molecules

Petroleum prices

Certain prices are indexed and recorded