Petroleum Overview Petroleum (peh-TRO-lee-yum) is a mixture, not a compound. Mixtures differ from compounds in a number of important ways. The parts that make up a mixture are not chemically combined with each other, as they are in a compound. Also,...

Petroleum has become steadily more useful and valuable since the first oil well was drilled by Edwin Drake (1819-1880) in 1859. The first major oil fields were discovered in Pennsylvania and Ohio, with major strikes in Texas and Oklahoma to follow in...

The process of oil recovery is essentially the process of getting oil from the places where oil exists in the ground (whether onshore or offshore) and into processing plants for refining so the oil is suitable for industrial and residential purposes....

From the dawn of time up through the late 1800s, economic development depended largely on the strength of man, animal, and to limited use water, wind, and steam. Economic conditions progressed from clans of primitive gatherers to reasonably advanced...

Petroleum (Latin Petroleum f. Greek πέτρα (Latin petra) - rock + έλαιον (Latin oleum) - oil) or crude oil is a naturally occurring liquid found in formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons (mostly alkanes) of...

While oil companies reaped gargantuan profits in 2006 amid high prices, U.S. demand for petroleum dipped last year to below 2004 levels, a trade group said Friday.Total U.S. petroleum deliveries, a measure of demand, fell by roughly 1 percent to 20.6 million barrels per day,...

Discusses America's dependence on oil and the pending depletion of this natural resource. Also describes the environmental effects of oil and coal consumption.

Reducing Dependence on Foreign Oil