Crude Oil

Crude oil formation

Crude oil has been formed from dead
microscopic (one-celled) organisms called
plankton and algae in oceans many years ago.
The process of formation is similar to that of
coal. When the animals died, they sank to the
bottom of an ocean. Rapid deposition of mud on
the dead organisms lead to slow decomposition
of the organisms into carbon-rich compounds
called Kerogens
 Crude oil formation:
• Carbon rich compounds mix with other
sediments to form a source rock (fine-
grained shale)

• As more layers form and deposit on top of

another, pressure and heat acting on the
source rock compress the organic material
into crude oil, which is a black, sometimes
green, reddish brown liquid.
Crude oil
World Crude Oil reserves
 Crude oil reserves
Countries with large oil reserves are
members of OPEC. OPEC = Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Some of
the OPEC countries include.
Below are the founding member states & their
oil reserves
(a) Saudi Arabia – Oil reserves =262 Gbbl
produces on average 4 Gbbl per year
 Crude oil reserves
(b) Iraq (Middle East) – Oil reserves =112 Gbbl
produces on average 0.5 Gbbl per year

(c) Iran (Middle East) – Oil reserves =133 Gbbl

produces on average 1.5 Gbbl per year

(d) Venezuela (South America) – Oil reserves =77.2 Billion bbl

produces on average 2.5 million bbl per year

(e) Kuwait (Middle East)- Oil reserves =104 Billion bbl

Produces 1.95 bbl per year

World proven oil reserves are at 1317.4 Gbbl

 OPEC

• Including the FIVE founding members

states mentioned above, in total OPEC
has 13 member states. (i.e., United Arab
Emirates(ME),), {Libya, Algeria, Nigeria,
Angola, Gabon, Republic of Congo,
Equatorial Quinea }Africa)
• .
 Crude Oil Reserves
• Some countries with large oil resources but not
OPEC members states includes;
• Canada, China, Mexico, Norway, Russia and
United States of America.
Highest Oil Reserves: Saudi Arabia & Venezuela
are two with oil reserves of more than 200 billion
barrels.
 Oil production & Consumption
• OPEC oil resources accounts 44 % of global oil
production and for 81 % of the world’s ‘proven’ oil
reserves.
• The consumption trend found under coal is
observed under oil, the TWO populous countries
USA & CHINA are top consumers of oil.
• Russia & Saudi Arabia are the largest exporters
of oil, consequently Russia-Ukraine war resulted
in sky rocketing fuel prices.

• .
World Oil reserves by region

NB: Middle East

dominates: 47 %
Crude oil extraction
 Crude oil extraction
• After extracting oil by conventional
techniques, some oil is usually retained in
the source rock pores. This remaining oil is
called “Tight Oil”. Tight oil is much more
abundant than conventional oil, but it is
very expensive to mine and the techniques
for mining it are destructive, e.g., hydraulic
fracking of the source rock. No difference in
chemical composition to conventional oil.
 Processing Crude Oil
Fractional distillation is used to
processes crude oil into various oil
products. Distillation is a method of
separating chemical substances based
on the differences in their evaporation
temperature. Different types of distillates
(fractions) are produced The crude oil is
heated and changed into a gas.
 Fractional distillation
• The gases are passed through a
distillation column which becomes cooler
as the height increases. When a
compound in the gaseous state cools
below its boiling point, it condenses into a
liquid. The liquids may be drawn off the
distilling column at various heights
Fractional Distillation:
 Crude Oil products
Gases: USES
 Methane: ---------------------cooking, Heating, Electricity
 Ethane:------------------------Plastic & Petrochemicals
 Butane Liquified Petroleum Gas--
 Propane Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)-Cooking
Liquids:
 Gasoline (Petrol)
 Diesel (efficiency of diesel engine is higher than
that of petrol)
 Crude Oil products
Liquids
Kerosene (Lamp oil or Paraffin)-Lighting
and cooking and Jet fuel.
Diesel----------Diesel engines
Motor oil------cooling and lubrication
 Crude Oil products
Solids
 Grease & Wax-----------Lubricating
Tar (Tar, Asphalt or Bitumen: semi-solid
form of petroleum or Crude Fractional
distillation residue mostly used for
construction of roads as a glue for concrete);
 Conversion
Cracking
Some fractions from the distillation towers
need to be transformed into new components .
Low-value fractions which are not in high
demand can be converted to petrol and other
useful chemicals. The most widely used
conversion method is called Cracking
because it uses heat and pressure to change
heavy hydrocarbon molecules into lighter
ones.
 Synthetic oil
Synthetic oil is oil consisting of chemical compounds
which were not originally present in crude oil but were
artificially made from other compounds. Synthetic oil
could be made to be a substitute for petroleum, or
specially made to be a substitute for a lubricant oil,
such as conventional motor oil refined from petroleum.
When a synthetic oil is made as a substitute for
petroleum, it is generally produced because of a
shortage of petroleum or because petroleum is too
expensive.
 Synthetic oil
When synthetic oil is used as a substitute
for lubricant refined from petroleum, it
generally, provides superior mechanical and
chemical properties than those found in
traditional mineral oils. Examples:
NEO motor oil, Mobil 1 & Redline, Liqui
Molly
 Synthetic oil

Advantages of synthetic oil

• Better chemical & shear stability

• Decreased evaporative loss
• Resistance to oxidation and thermal
breakdown Improved fuel economy in certain
engine configurations.
• Better lubrication on cold starts
 Synthetic oil

Disadvantages of synthetic oil

• Initial costs are usually four times greater

than petroleum-based oils.
 Environmental issues
(a) Oil Spillage

Oil is normally transported in tankers from producers

to consumers. During the trafficking, accidents often
occur. This could lead to oil spillage. The spillage of
crude oil often covers a wide area and cause
detrimental effect to natural flora and fauna. A typical
example of natural disaster caused by oil spillage
occurred in Alaska in 1989. The spillage amounted to
11 million gallons of crude oil into the sea. Many shell-
fish was killed. Half a million sea birds and 2800 sea
otters were also killed.
 Environmental issues
(b) Combustion of emissions

Oil is hydrocarbon with elements carbon

nitrogen, sulphur and hydrogen forming a
major fraction of the composition. On
combustion, the elements form oxides which
are acidic, e.g., dinitrogen oxide, sulphur
trioxide and carbon monoxide. The oxides are
also corrosive and harmful to biota
 Unstable Oil prices
Oil price is mainly determined by its
demand. The demand for oil is dependent
on global economic conditions. Financial
crisis may lower the demand for oil and
cause oil prices to fall. E.g., the Asian
financial crisis of 1999 caused oil price to
drop to its record low of $11.00 per barrel
Petroleum (Crude oil) use in
Botswana
 Petroleum (Crude oil) use in
Botswana

Botswana has no known petroleum

reserves and the country has to import all
its petroleum products requirements in
refined form, mainly from South Africa.
According to the 2005 figures, petroleum
products contribute the largest share of
the primary energy supply (34%). SA itself
 Petroleum (Crude oil) use in
Botswana
• Has very little oil resources and largely
dependent on exports.
 How long can oil last
• With the current production rate against
the reserves most countries has less than
• 70 years of sustained production.