Petroleum industry
The petroleum industry finds and extracts crude oil and natural gas, transports them, refines crude oil, and sells fuels and other petroleum products.
Petroleum exploration: The search for underground accumulations of oil and natural gas using geological and geophysical evidence. Exploration identifies prospects before companies commit to drilling.
Petroleum geology: The study of how petroleum forms, accumulates, and moves within rocks. Geological knowledge guides exploration and reservoir development.
John D. Rockefeller: An American industrialist who built Standard Oil into a dominant refining and marketing company. His consolidation of refining helped define the industry's early corporate structure.
Oil price: The market price of crude oil, quoted for particular grades, locations, and delivery dates. Prices influence investment, production decisions, and the cost of petroleum products.
Coal industry: The industry that mines, transports, and sells coal for energy and industrial use. Coal is another fossil-fuel industry, but its supply chain centers on mining rather than wells.
Oil well: A drilled borehole used to find or produce petroleum from underground formations. Wells provide access to reservoirs identified during exploration.
Petroleum reservoir: A porous underground rock formation that contains recoverable oil or natural gas. Reservoir properties determine how much petroleum a field can produce.
Standard Oil: An American oil trust founded by John D. Rockefeller that dominated refining and distribution in the late nineteenth century. Its growth and breakup shaped competition and regulation in petroleum markets.
1973 oil crisis: A supply disruption and price shock following the 1973 Arab oil embargo against countries supporting Israel. The crisis exposed the geopolitical leverage of petroleum supply.
Renewable energy: Energy from sources replenished on human timescales, including sunlight, wind, and flowing water. Renewables can replace some uses of petroleum without depending on finite oil reservoirs.