How is Oil Formed – Crude Oil is Solar Power

Oil and Natural gas are among the most valuable and sought after natural resources being used today. Crude Oil is the organic compound harvested from the Earth that is used to make all forms of petroleum products. Refineries convert most crude oil into energy producing compounds such as gasoline, diesel fuel, liquefied petroleum gas, jet fuel, and heating gases such as propane. However, a surprising amount of everyday products also contain petroleum components. This long list includes deodorant, plastics, inks, eyeglasses, tires, paraffin wax, lubricants, cleaning products, heart valves, and bubble gum. Another important derivative is used in road asphalt. The U.S. consumes about 22 million barrels of oil/day, most of which is imported from other countries such as Canada, and Saudi Arabia. A 45 gallon barrel of crude oil can be converted to approximately 20 gallons of automotive fuel.

Petroleum, which comes from the Latin meaning “rock oil”, is found all over the world at varying levels of concentration. They are called “hydrocarbons” because their chemical composition mostly consists of hydrogen and carbon atoms chained together. Crude is being formed all the time; however, conditions during certain periods in the Earth’s history were extremely suitable for the formation of oil. Jurassic period over 150 million years ago the Earth’s Oceans were abundant in microscopic plants, and bacteria which drew their energy from the sun in a process known as photosynthesis. Swarms of plankton fed on the plants and bacteria. As the plants and plankton died they sank to the ocean floors and became covered in mud and silt. Overtime layers upon layers of organic material and silt become stratified. Since the organic materials do not have access to oxygen they will not breakdown the same way. Anaerobic micro-organisms, that do not require oxygen to live, decompose the material into a carbon rich substance. Heat and pressure increase with depth and eventually presses the substance into other sediments forming source rock. Intense heat and pressure continues to act on the rock for thousands of years eventually releasing liquid hydrocarbon chains known as crude oil. Essentially it is the suns energy preserved deep within the Earth’s crust. The crude oil then migrates to porous rock and becomes trapped in underground reservoirs. Reservoirs can be tens of thousands of feet below the Earth’s surface, and require. Companies like Triple Diamond Energy Corp are among the leaders of oil extraction in the United States.
Oil sands are a form of heavy oil, or bitumen found on the Earth’s surface. One of the largest deposits of bitumen is in the Athabasca region in Alberta thought to hold an estimated 175 billion barrels of oil. Oil sands were formed in a similar fashion. Scientists speculate a large inland sea once covered Alberta. Over eons of geological shifts the oil formed has migrated through porous limestone and sandstone towards the surface.

The essential requirements are quite simple. Organic material becomes trapped and preserved under sediments and rock strata. Ever increasing pressure and heat slowly converts the substance into hydrocarbon chains and the crude oil deposits migrate to reservoirs.


About the Author: Robert Jent is President & CEO of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy is an independent producer of oil and natural gas. Located in the Dallas area, the company specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties.