Petroleum (L. petroleum, from early 15c. "petroleum, rock oil" (mid-14c.

in
Anglo-French), from Medieval Latin petroleum, from Latin: petra: "rock" + oleum:
"oil".[1][2][3]) is a naturally occurring, yellow-to-black liquidfound in geological
formations beneath the Earth's surface, which is commonly refined into various
types offuels.
It consists of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other organic
compounds.[4] The namepetroleum covers both naturally occurring
unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined
crude oil. A fossil fuel, petroleum is formed when large quantities of dead
organisms, usuallyzooplankton and algae, are buried underneath sedimentary
rock and subjected to intense heat and pressure.
Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling (natural petroleum springs are
rare). This comes after the studies of structural geology (at the reservoir scale),
sedimentary basin analysis, reservoir characterization (mainly in terms of
the porosity and permeability of geologic reservoir structures).[5][6] It is refined and
separated, most easily by distillation, into a large number of consumer products,
from gasoline (petrol) andkerosene to asphalt and chemical reagents used to
make plastics and pharmaceuticals.[7] Petroleum is used in manufacturing a wide
variety of materials,[8] and it is estimated that the world consumes about 90
million barrels each day.
Concern over the depletion of the earth's finite reserves of oil, and the effect this
would have on a society dependent on it, is a concept known as peak oil. The
use of fossil fuels, such as petroleum, has a negative impact on Earth's
biosphere, damaging ecosystems through events such as oil spills and releasing
a range of pollutants into the air including ground-level ozone and sulfur
dioxide from sulfur impurities in fossil fuels.