PETROLEUM

FACTS ABOUT PETROLEUM "Petroleum" literally translates as "rock oil." It stems from the Greek word "petra," meaning rock, and the Latin word "oleum," meaning oil. Crude oil ranges in consistency from water to a nearly solid state Oil is created from the decomposition of organic materials under intense heat and pressure over millions of years.

FACTS ABOUT PETROLEUM Crude oil is considered the "mother of all commodities" because of its use in the manufacturing of numerous products, including gasoline, synthetic fabrics, plastics and pharmaceuticals.

FACTS ABOUT PETROLEUM Arabia’s Ghawar oil field is by far the largest conventional oil field in the world (280 x 30 km) Saudi Arabia is the largest oil producer today and has the largest amount of reserves (267 billion barrels).

FACTS ABOUT PETROLEUM The largest oil spill in history, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, spilled 4.2 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Crude oil is measured in barrels, which are each equivalent to 42 U.S. gallons. The U.S. is the biggest consumer of oil at over 19.5 million barrels a day.

INTRODUCTION Petroleum is also known as crude oil or black gold. It exists in the upper strata of some areas of the Earth's crust. Crude oil is composed of hydrocarbons, which are mainly hydrogen (about 13% by weight) and carbon (about 85%). Other elements such as nitrogen (about 0.5%), sulfur (0.5%), oxygen (1%), and metals such as iron, nickel, and copper (less than 0.1%) can also be mixed in with the hydrocarbons in small amounts.

INTRODUCTION Crude oil is usually black or dark brown, but can also be yellowish, reddish, tan, or even greenish. Variations in color indicate the distinct chemical compositions of different supplies of crude oil. Petroleum that has few metals or sulfur, for instance, tends to be lighter (sometimes nearly clear). Petroleum reservoirs can be found beneath land or the ocean floor. Their crude oil is extracted with giant drilling machines.

CLASSIFICATION OF OIL GEOGRAPHY Brent Crude is a mixture that comes from 15 different oil fields between Scotland and Norway in the North Sea. These fields supply oil to most of Europe. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a lighter oil that is produced mostly in the U.S. state of Texas. It is “sweet” and “light”—considered very high quality. WTI supplies much of North America with oil.

Dubai crude, also known as Fateh or Dubai-Oman crude, is a light, sour oil. The nearby country of Oman has recently begun producing oil. Dubai and Oman crudes are used as a reference point for pricing Persian Gulf oils that are mostly exported to Asia. SULFUR CONTENT Sulfur is considered an “impurity” in petroleum. Sulfur in crude oil can corrode metal in the refining process and contribute to air pollution. Petroleum with more than 0.5% sulfur is called “sour,” while petroleum with less than 0.5% sulfur is “sweet.”

API GRAVITY API gravity is a measure of the density of petroleum liquid compared to water. If a petroleum liquid’s API gravity is greater than 10, it is “light,” and floats on top of water. If the API gravity is less than 10, it is “heavy,” and sinks in water.

GLOSSARY HYDROCARBON - are the simplest organic compound consisting of only carbon and hydrogen. They can be straight chain, branched chain, or cyclic molecules KEROGEN - is a mixture of organic chemical compounds that make up a portion of the organic matter in sedimentary rocks. It is insoluble in normal organic solvents because of the high molecular weight of its component compounds. The soluble portion is known as bitumen.

CATAGENESIS - the cracking process which results in the conversion of kerogens to hydrocarbons API - American Petroleum Institute. A trade association for businesses in the oil and natural gas industries. It has established accepted systems of standards for a variety of oil- and gas-related products, such as gauges, pumps, and drilling machinery.

THERMIC FLUID HEATER In recent times, thermic fluid heaters have found wide application for indirect process heating. Employing petroleum - based fluids as the heat transfer medium, these heaters provide constantly maintainable temperatures for the user equipment.

uses a liquid phase heat transfer medium to put heat energy into a process. Thermal oil, glycol, or water are common heat mediums that are used by being heated and circulated to heat energy users within a closed loop system. Thermal mediums offer high temperature operation capabilities (synthetic oils can be heated up to 800F) yet remain at low pressures. The risks of scale formation, corrosion and frost are also avoidable for oil based heat transfer media. Thermal fluid heaters are easier than common steam systems to operate and maintain. There are also many different types of heat recovery options that allow your thermal fluid heater to operate at optimal efficiency.

Sources of Petroleum Petroleum is typically found beneath the surface of the earth in accumulations known as fields. In order for a field to form, there must be some sort of structure to trap the petroleum, a seal on the trap that prohibits leakage of the petroleum and a reservoir rock that has adequate pore space or void space to hold the petroleum.

Types of Petroleum Oil Crude Oil (Unrefined) Gasoline Kerosene

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Properties and Characteristics Petroleum fuels should ignite and burn easily and release their energy completely. Which is a great deal compared to their weight. These fuels are made of hydrocarbons and refined from crude oil through fractional distillation and characterized by their boiling points and molecular weights. Natural gas consists of light hydrocarbon methane C1, ethane C2, propane C3, and butane C4.

Properties and Characteristics Hydrocarbons ◦Gasoline contains hydrocarbons in the range of C4-C10, kerosene and aviation fuels in C4-C19 range and diesel fuels can be found in the C8-C21 range. Other more heavier hydrocarbons are heating oils and diesel fuel #2 (C15-C22) and lubrication and hydraulic fluids are in the range of C20-C60.

Properties and Characteristics Volatility ◦Our well know fuels are combined of a number of different hydrocarbon compounds formulated to meet specific properties for an application. ◦Volatility is one such property. It affects its ability to vaporize and form a combustible mixture with air in the engine. Lighter fuels as gasoline and AVgas are more volatile than JET or diesel fuels at the same temperature and pressure.

Properties and Characteristics Impurities ◦Refined fuels contain a number of impurities like gums, metals, microbial growth, sediment, sulfur and water through condensation. ◦Gums are formed by oxidization or polymerization of hydrocarbon molecules when exposed to air or sunlight. ◦Metals are introduced during refining and can contribute to fuel filter clogging. A metal deactivator additive is used to combat this.

Properties and Characteristics Fuel microbes ◦As fuel is sterilized when it leaves the refinery, microbial growth occurs after fuel comes into contact with air and water. ◦The microbes feed on fuel and when given the change and time they produce odorous slime clogging fuel filters. Minimizing water content and biocide additives are needed. ◦Sediment is just rust, dirt, minerals, sand and such impurities. The use of fuel filters should address this. ◦Sulfur compounds can act corrosive to metals in the fuel systems of aircraft. Limiting the sulfur contents in fuels like diesel and JET will help alleviate this.

Properties and Characteristics Octane ◦Gasoline fuels are rated with a octane number and this is an indication of their resistance against detonation (knocking). ◦The higher the rating the more resistant. A high rating does not imply more power but that the fuel can be used in higher compression or turbo supercharged engines.

Properties and Characteristics Flammability ◦Indicates how readily a fuel will start to burn, ◦very helpful in an engine combustion chamber after the spark plug creates a spark.

Properties and Characteristics

Chemical Composition Crude oils and refined petroleum products consist largely of hydrocarbons, which are Chemicals composed solely of hydrogen and carbon in various molecular arrangements. Crude oils contain hundreds of different hydrocarbons and other organic and inorganic substances including atoms of sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen, as well as metals such as iron, vanadium, nickel, and chromium.

Chemical Composition The hydrocarbons in crude oil are mostly alkanes, cycloalkanes and various aromatic hydrocarbons while the other organic compounds contain nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur, and trace amounts of metals such as iron, nickel, copper and vanadium.

Chemical Composition The exact molecular composition varies widely from formation to formation but the proportion of chemical elements vary over fairly narrow limits as follows: Carbon 83 – 87 % Hydrogen 10 – 14 % Nitrogen 0.1 – 2 % Oxygen 0.1 – 1.5 % Sulfur 0.5 – 6 % Metals < 0.1 %