Oil and Gas 101 

Where it is
Crude oil is found all over the world, under the ground and even below the oceans.

What it is
Oil is formed from the remains of water-based plants and animals that lived in prehistoric times.  Over the course of millions of years, these remains developed into what we now consider crude oil.

1,001 uses
When oil is removed from the ground, it doesn’t look anything like what you pump into your car.  Before it can fuel your car, it must be refined.  The refining process is much like the sorting process on an assembly line – first it’s “cleaned” and divided into various components which create different fuels and petrochemicals.  One of these components is gasoline.  The components are separated by boiling the oil and allowing the vapors to sort by density - the lighter components which form the gasoline portion of the barrel are drawn off and condensed back to a liquid form.

It’s important to remember, the fuel for your car is not the same as the fuel for a plane, kerosene and even petrochemicals – but all of these come from the same original barrel of oil before they are refined.  Just under half of the oil in a barrel becomes gasoline.  The rest is developed into a myriad of other products including diesel, jet fuel, petrochemicals, roofing materials, marine fuel, asphalt, tennis shoes, curtains, pens, rugs and even bandages.

Who produces it
The top five oil producing nations are Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United States, Iran and China.  America’s neighbor to the north, Canada exports the most oil to the United States.  In late 2008 Canada was exporting nearly 2 million barrels a day to the United States, compared with approximately 1.4 million a day from Saudi Arabia.  Mexico and Venezuela also exported more than 1 million barrels a day to the United States during this same time frame.  All total, the United States imports approximately 13 million barrels of oil a day.

In America, 31 states produce oil.  The top five oil producing states are Texas, Alaska, California, Louisiana and Oklahoma.  The U.S. exports approximately 6 million barrels of oil a day.

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