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Oil Company
Crude Oil Company
Oil Refinery Company
Indian Oil Corporation
Marathon Petroleum Company
Occidental Petroleum Corporation
Oil companies carry out the 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 like nitrogen, sulphur and oxygen. Petroleum industry operates on the petrol market.
95% of natural oil and gas formations are formed from decayed plants and bacteria. They 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 the world market.
The petroleum industry can be divided into 2 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, petro product distribution.
The companies explore 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. Then depth conversion is done to create profile of the substructure.
The DOWNSTREAM sector mainly refines crude oil. They also sell and distribute natural gas, and products derived from petrol like LPG, gasoline, jet fuel, natural oil and Diesel oil. This sector uses mainly tankers for transportation. Tankers are ships carrying hydrocarbon products like oil, LPG, LNG etc. Pipeline transport is 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, INDEPENDENTS and JOBBERS. As for India, 5 of the Navratan Companies are petroleum companies they are IOC, IPCL, ONGC, BPCL and HPCL.
In USA, major oil companies are located in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, California Louisiana, etc. Venezuela, Peru, Columbia in Latin America have many 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, UAE. Saudi Arabia has the maximum reserves of oil.
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