Oil - Black Gold

Finally, there’s a streak of good luck. The “15-items-or-less” lane is open and no one is in line. A teenage cashier scans the bar codes on a tube of lipstick and a pair of tennis shoes and places them in plastic bags.

On the surface, these two purchases seem to have nothing in common. But take a closer look. Lipstick and shoes both are made from oil-derived products, and they are not alone. Everyday, millions of people worldwide purchase thousands of oil-related products. Oil is used to manufacture everything from plastics, detergents and drugs to preservatives, clothing and appliances.

6000 Years Ago
It is hard to say when humans first began using oil. Some historians say it was known at least 6,000 years ago. Ancient stories tell of a Chinese village where dark liquid seeped from the ground. Alarmed farmers prayed to their gods for help because the substance was ruining their crops. When a feudal lord learned of the problem, he discovered that oil could be used to polish swords and armor. He sent workers to gather the liquid in jars, solving the farmers’ problem and paying them for the oil.

Records written on stone in ancient Egypt suggest oil was used to grease the axles of the pharaohs’ chariots. Egyptians also used asphalt, a thick form of oil, as a coating to help preserve mummies. They also may have paved roads with asphalt.

Legends say the Greeks destroyed an enemy fleet by pouring oil on the sea and setting it afire. Later, a Roman general had a similar idea. He smeared pigs with oil, ignited them, and drove the swine into an enemy camp. In fact, the Romans came up with the term petroleum, from the Latin words petra, meaning rock, and oleum, meaning oil.

Two thousand years ago, Mayan Indians in Mexico described a liquid ointment that was used to anoint the bodies of priests in rituals. It was also used as fuel for fires during religious ceremonies.

Oil and its uses are mentioned in the Bible as well. Pitch, a form of natural asphalt, was said to have been used to caulk ships. Babylonian writings about the Great Flood say that Noah used pitch to caulk his ark.

Third-Century B.C. Drilling
Historians say the Chinese used petroleum as early as the third century B.C. Oil lamps and cooking stoves are two of the known uses of petroleum in China at the time. They used long, metal drills to reach the oil within the ground and then pushed bamboo tubes

into the holes. As the oil gushed to the surface, they collected it.

Besides fuel, the Chinese also used oil for medicinal purposes. After it was filtered through cloth, the fine oil was used as balm for skin. The Chinese combined oil with other substances and took it internally to relieve pain from stomachaches and intestinal problems.

The Chinese were probably among the first to use natural gas as well. They often built ovens and hearths in locations where natural gas escaped from the ground since they had no means to transport it.

Native American Medicine
When colonists from England arrived in America, they found the Native Americans skimming oil scum from the surface of streams and lakes. Using blankets to collect the oil, Native Americans used it as medicine. During the Revolutionary War, Native Americans taught George Washington’s troops how to treat frostbite with oil.

Of course, oil and gas aren’t the only products that come from a reservoir rock. In the early 1800s, many oil wells were drilled to bring the salty water, known as brine, to the surface. After the water evaporated, the salt was left behind to be sold.

Demand for oil began to increase from the middle of the eighteenth century. During the Industrial Revolution, oil was needed for lighting homes and factories. Before petroleum, whale oil was commonly used to make candles and as fuel for lamps. However, the supply of whale oil was running low and the price had skyrocketed. At that time petroleum was obtained by distilling it from coal, by skimming it from ponds and streams, and by oil shale retorting. None of these processes could meet the rising demand for oil.

Birth of an Industry
On Aug. 27, 1859, a forty-year-old former railroad conductor, Edwin L. Drake, struck oil at his well near Titusville, Pa. The oil industry was born. Soon oil exploration began to spread throughout the world.

Today, we can’t drive on a highway, attend school, shop at the grocery store or go home without encountering products that are made directly or indirectly from oil.

Gasoline, Petrochemicals
The oil product probably most familiar to us is gasoline. Gasoline is produced in a wide variety of blends and types refined for many different purposes. In the 1920s and ‘30s, airplanes used the same type of gasoline as cars. Over the years, engineers developed new fuels for aircraft that would increase power. Fuels derived from crude oil today include liquefied petroleum gas, aviation fuel, gasoline, kerosene, diesel engine and road vehicle fuel, and gas oil and fuel oil, which are used in boilers.

When oil and gas are converted to chemicals, they are called petrochemicals. We are surrounded by products made from petrochemicals, including plastics. In the 1920s there was an abundance of hydrocarbons at petroleum refineries. Manufacturers took advantage of this and developed uses for the cheap raw materials. The petrochemical
industry evolved.

The list of petrochemical-derived breakthroughs is endless, including such products as ball-point pens and sunglasses, trashbags and nylon rope, crayons and toothbrushes, deodorant and nail polish and tennis shoes and lipstick — and so many more.

Just a few more of the thousands of products derived from oil are candles, paint, carpet, soap, perfumes, balloons, photographic film, insecticides, margarine, cassettes, telephones, and polyester.

Medical Industry
One particular area that has its share of oil-produced products is the medical industry. What would life be without hearing aids, bandages, artificial limbs and heart valves, contact lenses and hundreds of medications derived from petroleum? As the source of such important products, there is concern about the amount of oil left on Earth.

Dr. Colin Barker, McMan professor and chairman of the geosciences department at the University of Tulsa, said the end of the oil supply may not come in our lifetime, but “it will run out.”

Barker suggested that as oil becomes harder to find, prices will rise until a more economically feasible alternative is found.

1.	Will the Earth ever run out of oil?
2.	Do you think there are other significant uses for oil that haven’t yet been discovered?
3.	When oil was first drilled in the United States, it created a boom. What other industries have experienced such booms?

Sources
Blakey, Ellen Sue. Oil on Their Shoes. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. 1985.
Cross, Wilbur. Petroleum. Chicago: Children’s Press, 1983.
“Everyday Products Derived From Crude Oil.” The Institute of Petroleum.
Lambert, Mark. Spotlight on Oil. Rourke Enterprises, Inc. 1987.
Pampe, William R. Petroleum, How it is Found and Used. Enslow Publishers, Inc. 1984.
Twist, Clint. Facts on Fossil Fuels. Franklin Watts. 1990.

Last Updated: 02/16/03
This Web site made possible by ConocoPhillips. Copyright 2003 ConocoPhillips. All rights reserved.
For more information or to send comments, please send an e-mail to teach@conocophillips.com.

This teaching guide is designed to complement the 20-minute video, Crude Energy. Click here to request the video. Please note that video supplies are limited and may no longer be available.