Oil Company

Crude Oil Company
Oil Refinery Company
Indian Oil Corporation
Marathon Petroleum Company
Occidental Petroleum Corporation

Oil companies carry out different procedures of extraction, refining, transportation and marketing of oil. The word petroleum is formed from two terms, "Petra" meaning rock and "oleum" meaning oil. Rock oil is one of the important mineral fuels and is a complex mixture of hydrocarbon compounds, with minor amount of impurities such as nitrogen, sulphur and oxygen. The petroleum industry operates on the petrol market.

Decayed plants and bacteria form 95% of natural oil and gas formations. Natural oil and gas need to be extracted from the sources, and the oil companies carry out this function as well.

The Industrial Revolution led to an increased need for energy. It was during this time that it was discovered that kerosene could be extracted from crude oil.

In the 20th century, petroleum oil has become the most important industry in world markets. The petroleum industry can be divided into two major broad groups. The Upstream producers who are involved in exploration, development, and production of crude oil or natural gas. The Downstream transporters provide tanker and pipeline transport.

The upstream oil sector searches and recovers crude oil. It deals in exploration and production. They search for potential oil fields. The Midstream sector processes, stores, markets, and transports crude oil. The Downstream sector has oil refineries, petrochemical plants, retail outlets, and petro product distribution.

Companies explore for oil with highly sophisticated technology. Oil seeps, natural gas seeps, and pockmarks are used. The potential oil fields are subjected to gravity survey and magnetic survey. Depth conversion procedures take place to create a profile of the substructure.

The Downstream sector mainly refines crude oil. They also sell and distribute natural gas, and products derived from petrol such as LPG, gasoline, jet fuel, natural oil, and diesel oil. This sector uses mainly tankers for transportation. Tankers are ships carrying hydrocarbon products such as oil, LPG, LNG, etc. Pipelines are also a major form of transport. Pneumatic tubes are used as pipelines.

Oil Companies are categorized into Supermajors. (BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Conoco Phillips, Shell and Total S.A.). Other classifications are Majors, Independants, and Jobbers. In India, five Navratan Companies are petroleum companies. They are IOC, IPCL, ONGC, BPCL and HPCL.

There are major oil companies located in North and South America. In the USA, major oil companies are located in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, California, and Louisiana. Venezuela, Peru, and Columbia in South America have numerous oil companies.

In Russia, the Caucasus, Volga and Ural regions are major oil producing areas. In West Asia, oil companies are found in Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Bahrain, and UAE. Saudi Arabia has the most reserves of oil.