WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

Petroleum is important because we use it to heat our

homes and produce electricity. Currently, petroleum is
among our most important natural resource. We use
gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel fuel to run cars, trucks,
aircraft, ships, and other vehicles. Home heat sources
include oil, natural gas, and electricity, which in many
areas is generated by burning natural gas. Petroleum and
petroleum-based chemicals are important in
manufacturing plastic, wax, fertilizers, lubricants, and
many other goods.

Petroleum is typically found beneath the surface of the earth in accumulations

known as fields. Fields can contain oil, gas, tar, water, and other substances,
but oil, gas, and water are the most common. 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. To find these features
together in an area in which petroleum has been generated by chemical
reactions affecting organic remains requires many coincidences of timing of
natural processes.
Petroleum generation occurs over long periods of timemillions of years. In
order for petroleum generation to occur, organic matter such as dead plants
or animals must accumulate in large quantities. The organic matter can be
deposited along with sediments and later buried as more sediments
accumulate on top. The sediments and organic material that accumulate are
called source rock. After burial, chemical activity in the absence of oxygen
allows the organic material in the source rock to change into petroleum

without the organic matter simply rotting. A good petroleum source rock is
a sedimentary rock such as shale or limestone that contains between 1%
and 5% organic carbon. Rich source

Read more: Petroleum - Sources Of Petroleum - Rock, Reservoir, Rocks, and

Organic - JRank Articles http://science.jrank.org/pages/5122/PetroleumSources-petroleum.html#ixzz3xucBLhIC

The source of oil and gas are animals and plants that died millions of years ago, the
World Petroleum Council explains. These organisms sunk to the bottom of the sea and
were buried by sand and mud. After millions of years, the dead sea creatures became
buried deeper and deeper and turned into oil and gas. The extreme pressure and
temperature deep underground transformed the chemicals from the decaying organisms
into crude oil and gas.
The International Energy Agency estimates that oil will supply 30 percent of the world's
energy mix in 2030, reports NRC. Around two-thirds of oil in the U.S. and Canada is
used for transportation. Oil is mostly used for power generation and space heating in
other countries. Moreover, oil is a valuable product for the agriculture industry, which
provides food for people across the globe.
Petroleum is used for a wide range of applications, most-notably powering internal
combustion engines, according to Petroleum.co.uk. Bitumen, the thickest form of

petroleum, is used for paving roads, forming the blacktop and roofing. Moreover,
petroleum is a major component of various plastics and synthetics.

Basically, humans use lots of energy for heating, lighting, movement,

machines, etc etc. That energy has to come from an energy source. Some
sources are renewable, some sources are non-renenwable.
Generally speaking, Non-renewable sources are fossil fuels(petrol). These
come from underground and are Coal, Oil and Gas. There is a fixed amouint
of coal oil and gas in the world and when we have used it all, there is no more.
We cannot 're-new' them.
Renewable sources are energy sources that will not run out. They can be
used 'forever'. They include Solar Energy; Wind Energy; Wave Energy;
Geothermal energy.
Fossil Fuel cause lots of pollution. Renewable energy sources don't cause
pollution.