Interesting facts about oil and oil production. Interesting facts about oil Oil once saved the whales from extinction

Oil in modern world is a very important resource. People began to use oil at the dawn of civilization, albeit in ways that seem naive and even strange today. Today, without it, the production of various goods is impossible, and wars are fought for control of the oil market. Our review contains little-known and simply Interesting Facts about oil and gas.

1. Lead in gasoline

The chemist Thomas Midgley was the first to put forward the idea that adding lead to gasoline would reduce engine knock. Some say this discovery did more damage environment than everything else in the world.

2. Gasoline prices

Gasoline prices in the US are twice as low as those in the EU.

3. Castor oil and pilots

During World War I, aircraft used castor oil as an engine lubricant. Due to the fact that the remains of unburned castor oil were thrown out of the exhaust pipe, pilots often suffered from diarrhea.

4. USA, Canada, Mexico...

America gets more oil from Canada and Mexico than from all countries in the Middle East combined.

5. Statoil

The Norwegian oil company Statoil put one of its platforms up for sale with the following ad: "For sale a well maintained platform with 20 bedrooms that offer panoramic sea views. There is also enough space for a helicopter."

6. 120 free liters of gasoline

More recently, in Turkmenistan, each driver received 120 free liters of gasoline per month.

7. The average annual salary of a US oil worker

The average annual salary for an oil rig worker was around $100,000 in 2011.

8. The school is pumping oil

Beverly Hills High School in California has 19 oil wells on its campus. The school earns about US$300,000 a year.

9. Diesel

Diesel engines were named after their inventor, not the fuel. In fact, some of the first diesel engines ran on peanut butter.

10. Half of the world's oil consumption

The United States accounts for almost half of the world's oil consumption.

11. Saudi Arabia falls behind

Russia produces about 1 million barrels more oil daily than Saudi Arabia.

12. Drunken Price Drop

In 2010, London-based broker Steve Perkins, while heavily drunk, accidentally bought more than $500 million worth of oil. He single-handedly managed to lower world oil prices to an 8-month high.

13. DT vs. cigarettes

According to World Organization health, diesel fuel is more carcinogenic than cigarettes.

14. The most expensive AI-95

Norway has some of the highest gasoline prices in the world. The proceeds are used to provide free education and improve infrastructure.

15. Biofuel

Even if all US corn and soybean production were concentrated in biofuel production, this would only satisfy about 10% of fuel demand.

16. Battleship Arizona

The engine room of the battleship USS Arizona, which was sunk in 1941 at Pearl Harbor, still leaks fuel, forming a stain on the surface of the water above the ship.

17. Oil reserves of Iraq

Despite the fact that the US spent nearly $700 billion on the Iraq war, all oil contracts were bought by other countries. This came as a surprise to many people, but America was almost the only country that did not benefit from Iraq's oil reserves.

18. Oil pipeline in Ecuador

From the oil pipeline in Ecuador flowed into rainforests The Amazon has more oil than the oil spill from the Exxon Valdez tanker accident in Alaska.

19. Aboriginal drug addicts

In the US, severe ecological situation.

Over the past 25 years, there have been nearly two dozen oil spills in the US.

22. 300 billion barrels

Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, estimated at almost 300 billion barrels. The US ranks 10th with 33 billion barrels.

23. Waterproof sealant and adhesive

Oil has always been important to civilization. Ancient cultures used it to bond materials and also as a waterproof sealant.

For curious readers, we have collected and. Everyone should know this for their own safety.

Oil in the modern world is a very important resource. Without it, the production of various goods is impossible, and wars are fought for control of the oil market. This review contains little-known and simply interesting facts about oil and gas.

The chemist Thomas Midgley was the first to put forward the idea that adding lead to gasoline would reduce engine knock. Some say this discovery caused more environmental damage than anything else in the world.

Gasoline prices in the US are twice as low as those in the EU.

America gets more oil from Canada and Mexico than from all the countries in the Middle East combined.

Norwegian oil company Statoil put one of its platforms up for sale with the following ad: “A well maintained 20 bedroom platform with panoramic sea views is for sale. There is also enough space for a helicopter.”

The average annual salary for an oil rig worker was around $100,000 in 2011.

During World War I, aircraft used castor oil as an engine lubricant. Due to the fact that the remains of unburned castor oil were thrown out of the exhaust pipe, pilots often suffered from diarrhea.

Beverly Hills High School in California has 19 oil wells on its campus. The school earns about US$300,000 a year.

Diesel engines were named after their inventor, not the fuel. In fact, some of the first diesel engines ran on peanut butter.

The United States accounts for almost half of the world's oil consumption.

In Turkmenistan, every driver receives 120 free liters of gasoline per month.

Russia produces about 1 million barrels more oil daily than Saudi Arabia.

In 2010, London-based broker Steve Perkins, while heavily drunk, accidentally bought more than $500 million worth of oil. He single-handedly managed to lower world oil prices to an 8-month high.

According to the World Health Organization, diesel fuel is more carcinogenic than cigarettes.

Norway has some of the highest gasoline prices in the world. The proceeds are used to provide free education and improve infrastructure.

Even if all US corn and soybean production were concentrated in biofuel production, this would only satisfy about 10% of fuel demand.

The engine room of the battleship USS Arizona, which was sunk in 1941 at Pearl Harbor, still leaks fuel, forming a stain on the surface of the water above the ship.

An oil pipeline in Ecuador has leaked more oil into the Amazon rainforest than the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

Since there was a problem in remote areas of Australia with local Aborigines who snorted gasoline to achieve a state of euphoria, Opal brand gasoline (virtually devoid of chemical impurities) began to be used in the country.

Oil drilling involves the process of drilling a well and pumping air into it. After the oil layer is reached, the oil begins to literally gush into the sky.

Over the past 25 years, there have been nearly two dozen oil spills in the US.

Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, estimated at almost 300 billion barrels. The US ranks 10th with 33 billion barrels.

Oil has always been important to civilization. Ancient cultures used it to bond materials and also as a waterproof sealant.

Have you ever wondered what language the name of oil comes from? Hardly - we rarely think about what seems natural. Well, the more interesting it will be to find out that "oil" came from Turkish " oil", which, in turn, took its origins from the Persian " naft" (borrowed from Semitic languages). Thus, the Assyrian nartn” literally means “spewed out”, “spewed out”.

However, this is not the only version of the etymological name of the fossil. Other scholars claim that the word "oil" comes from " napatum"(Akkadian word), which means "flare up", and still others - that it came from the ancient Iranian " naft"Something wet."

The Chinese, who were the first to drill an oil well in the 3rd century AD, named the find according to their poetic mentality " shi yo"-" mountain oil ". By the way, in the 21st century they continue to call oil the same way.

Where does she come from?

We remember curriculum schools - oil formed the remains of plankton organisms that live in sea depths tens of millions of years ago. Living for a very short time, but multiplying with astonishing speed, billions of plankton, microscopic living creatures, die and settle to the bottom. After that, they become covered with silt, decompose, become viscous. The mash, being at a depth of 2,000 meters, at a temperature of 65 ° C and high pressure becomes oil. This takes millions of years (having found itself in the same conditions, but at temperatures above 135 ° C, the dead plankton become gas). Being under impermeable rocks, oil seems to be stored under an airtight lid. This is the answer to the question why a fossil lying “freely” on the bottom needs to be mined.

The "discoverer" of oil is considered to be the American Edwin Drake, who in 1859 instead of water, which he was trying to find, found an oil field with the help of drilling. With this happy incident, the “oil fever” began.

How much is it?

If divided oil reserves, which modern humanity knows about, for the duration of the geological epochs during which this extremely useful mineral was formed, we get the amount that is formed daily - 150 barrels.

At the same time, modern oil companies produce at least 85 million barrels a day - it took nature 1,500 years to create such an amount. The annual consumption of oil by modern humanity was produced by Mother Nature for half a million years (humanity exists much less).
Today there are 40 thousand oil fields on our planet. 60% of the total amount of "black gold" is produced by 300 giant deposits discovered in the middle of the last century (elephants). The remaining 40% are produced by the so-called mice - deposits with very short term life.

The notorious Safania field (what is located in Saudi Arabia), with a width of 15 kilometers, extends for fifty kilometers. Safania, which was discovered in 1951, today has 37 billion barrels and at least 150 billion cubic meters, respectively, of oil and gas. All this could satisfy the demands of the United States of America for 5 years. That's why the people of Saudi Arabia "do not live in poverty" - the national company SaudiAramco is the most profitable on the planet. Well, even if she does not disclose financial indicators - Forbes magazine knows that her annual net profit is at least $ 200 billion.

What color is oil?

It would seem a ridiculous question - everyone knows that this "gold" is black. But, it turns out, and not necessarily black! Oil can be red, green, blue and even... colorless! Interestingly, its color is unimportant (gold is also gold in Africa). Experts say that the shade of a mineral depends on the characteristics of the resinous substances contained in it (quantity, nature, color). It is noteworthy that the share of non-hydrocarbon impurities affects the quality of oil, but not the color - the quality of oil does not depend on it. Colorless (and maybe white) oil is, in essence, gas condensate.

Ambiguous benefit of a mineral

If you have so far had a vague idea of the significance of litigation in which cases of spilling oil into water bodies are considered, and the companies guilty of them are subject to fabulous fines, you should imagine an oil drop weighing half a gram. It forms a film on the surface of the water, whose diameter is 30 cm. This film does not allow air to pass through, thereby creating a vacuum for all living creatures living in this area.

A fish that lives in water, in which there is only 0.1 mg per liter. oil, has a smell, which she will get rid of only after a month of life in an ideal clean water.

The studies of Jacques-Yves-Cousteau have a clear formulation: the presence of petroleum products in sea waters in just 20 years led to the extinction of 40% of living organisms.

Recently, the site published the top ten most interesting facts about oil. Today we decided to collect interesting facts about gas. Everyone knows that natural gas- one of the most important fossil fuels, occupying key positions in the fuel and energy balances of many states, an important raw material for chemical industry. There are facts from which you can learn a lot of interesting and useful things about gas, which many of us do not even know about.

Top 10 Interesting Gas Facts:
1. Natural gas has no color, no taste, no smell. The characteristic smell of gas, reminiscent of the smell of rotten eggs, suggests that after extraction, a special substance is added to it - an odorant, the smell of which just resembles rotten eggs. An odorant is needed to warn a person about a leak.
2. In which state can you find the door to the underworld? In 1971, while drilling an exploration well in Turkmenistan, geologists stumbled upon an underground cavity. A gap formed, filled with gas, into which the drilling rig with all the equipment sank. To prevent the harmful gas from escaping, they decided to set it on fire. It was assumed that in a few days the fire would go out, but the gas is still burning to this day. Travelers gave this place the name "The Door to the Underworld."
3. What birds helped the miners? Canaries are very sensitive to methane content in the air. This feature was used at one time by miners who, descending underground, took with them a cage with a canary. If the singing had not been heard for a long time, then it was necessary to go upstairs as quickly as possible.
4. What animals warned the soldiers about the gas attack? During World War I, cats were kept in the trenches to provide early warning of a gas attack. And during World War II, they were taken aboard submarines as living air quality detectors.
5. How can birds detect a gas leak? In some states, Americans add a rotten-meat-smelling chemical to gas pipelines. This makes it easy to find the leak where the bars start to circle.
6. In the 19th century in Russia and Europe, artificial lighting gas, which was produced from coal, was used to illuminate the streets. This gas was released when coal was heated in special closed vessels - retorts. It was accumulated in storage facilities and delivered through a pipeline system to street gas lamps. In Russia, the first plant for the production of lighting gas was built in St. Petersburg in 1835.
7. Even in ancient times, natural gas began to be used for household needs. For example, in the 1st century AD. The Persian king ordered the construction of a palace kitchen on the spot where the gas was escaping to the surface. The fire there burned day and night, and it was not necessary to spend either wood or coal to keep it going.
8. The world's largest liquefied natural gas tanker is 345 meters long - three and a half times longer than a football field.
9. The world's longest underwater gas pipeline is laid between Norway and the UK along the bottom North Sea. It's called Langeled. Its length is 1200 km.
10. The total length of gas pipelines in Russia is over 872,000 kilometers. This is twice the distance from the Earth to the Moon, or 20 times the length of the equator.