Editing Petroleum (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of the petroleum industry}}

=== Early ===
[[File:Edwindrake.jpg|thumb|In 1859, [[Edwin Drake]] drilled the world's first successful oil well at what is now known as [[Drake Well]] in [[Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania]]]]
[[File:Gusher Okemah OK 1922.jpg|thumb|An oil derrick in [[Okemah, Oklahoma]] in 1922]]
Petroleum, in one form or another, has been used since ancient times. More than 4300 years ago, [[bitumen]] was mentioned when the Sumerians used it to make boats. A tablet of the legend of the birth of [[Sargon of Akkad]] mentions a basket which was closed by straw and bitumen. More than 4000 years ago, according to [[Herodotus]] and [[Diodorus Siculus]], [[Bitumen|asphalt]] was used in the construction of the walls and towers of [[Babylon]]; there were oil pits near Ardericca and Babylon, and a pitch spring on [[Zakynthos]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|wstitle=Petroleum |volume=21 |page=316 |first=Boverton |last=Redwood |inline=1}}</ref> Great quantities of it were found on the banks of the river [[Issus (river)|Issus]], one of the tributaries of the [[Euphrates]]. Ancient [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] [[Persepolis Administrative Archives|tablets]] indicate the medicinal and lighting uses of petroleum in the upper levels of their society.

The use of petroleum in ancient [[China]] dates back to more than 2000 years ago. The ''[[I Ching]]'', one of the earliest Chinese writings, cites that oil in its raw state, without refining, was first discovered, extracted, and used in China in the first century BCE. In addition, the Chinese were the first to record the use of petroleum as fuel as early as the fourth century BCE.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zhiguo |first=Gao |title=Environmental regulation of oil and gas |date=1998 |publisher=Kluwer Law International |isbn=978-90-411-0726-8 |location=London |page=8 |oclc=39313498}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Deng |first=Yinke |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientchinesein0000deng |title=Ancient Chinese Inventions |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-521-18692-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ancientchinesein0000deng/page/40 40] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Burke |first=Michael |title=Nanotechnology: The Business |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4200-5399-9 |page=3}}</ref> By 347 CE, oil was produced from bamboo-drilled wells in China.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Totten |first=George E. |title=ASTM International – Standards Worldwide |url=http://www.astm.org/COMMIT/D02/to1899_index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706232229/https://www.astm.org/COMMIT/D02/to1899_index.html |archive-date=July 6, 2017 |access-date=March 18, 2018 |website=astm.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dalvi |first=Samir |title=Fundamentals of Oil & Gas Industry for Beginners |publisher=Notion Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-93-5206-419-9}}</ref>

In the 7th century, petroleum was among the essential ingredients for [[Greek fire]], an incendiary projectile weapon that was used by [[Byzantine Greeks]] against Arab ships, which were then attacking [[Constantinople]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Greek fire {{!}} Byzantine, Naval Warfare, Incendiary {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/Greek-fire |access-date=October 1, 2023 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> Crude oil was also distilled by [[Alchemy in the medieval Islamic world|Persian chemists]], with clear descriptions given in Arabic handbooks such as those of [[Abu Bakr al-Razi]] (Rhazes).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Forbes |first=Robert James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eckUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA149 |title=Studies in Early Petroleum History |date=1958 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |page=149 |access-date=April 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200315165347/https://books.google.com/books?id=eckUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA149 |archive-date=March 15, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> The streets of [[Baghdad]] were paved with [[tar]], derived from petroleum that became accessible from natural fields in the region.

In the 9th century, [[oil field]]s were exploited in the area around modern [[Baku]], [[Azerbaijan]]. These fields were described by the [[Persian geographer]] [[Abu Bakr al-Razi]] in the 10th century, and by [[Marco Polo]] in the 13th century, who described the output of those wells as hundreds of shiploads.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Salim Al-Hassani |title=A shared legacy: Islamic science East and West |publisher=[[University of Barcelona|Edicions Universitat Barcelona]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-84-475-3285-8 |editor-last=Emilia Calvo Labarta |pages=57–82 [63] |chapter=1000 Years of Missing Industrial History |author-link=Salim Al-Hassani |editor-last2=Mercè Comes Maymo |editor-last3=Roser Puig Aguilar |editor-last4=Mònica Rius Pinies}}</ref> [[Alchemy and chemistry in Islam|Arab and Persian chemists]] also distilled crude oil to produce [[flammable]] products for military purposes. Through [[Islamic Spain]], distillation became available in [[Western Europe]] by the 12th century.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=petroleum |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/454269/petroleum |access-date=June 30, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429155229/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/454269/petroleum |archive-date=April 29, 2015 |last2=Gordon I. Atwater |author1=Joseph P. Riva Jr. |url-status=live}}</ref> It has also been present in Romania since the 13th century, being recorded as păcură.<ref>Istoria Romaniei, Vol II, p. 300, 1960</ref>

Sophisticated oil pits, {{convert|15|to|20|ft|m|order=flip|round=0.5}} deep, were dug by the [[Seneca people]] and other [[Iroquois]] in [[Western Pennsylvania]] as early as 1415–1450. The French General [[Louis-Joseph de Montcalm]] encountered Seneca using petroleum for ceremonial fires and as a healing lotion during a visit to [[Fort Duquesne]] in 1750.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Keoke |first1=Emory Dean |title=American Indian Contributions to the World: 15,000 Years of Inventions and Innovations |last2=Porterfield |first2=Kay Marie |publisher=Facts on File |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8160-5367-4 |page=199}}</ref>

Early British explorers to [[Myanmar]] documented a flourishing oil extraction industry based in [[Yenangyaung]] that, in 1795, had hundreds of hand-dug wells under production.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Longmuir |first=Marilyn V. |title=Oil in Burma: the extraction of "earth-oil" to 1914 |date=2001 |publisher=White Lotus Press |isbn=978-974-7534-60-3 |location=Bangkok |page=329 |oclc=48517638}}</ref>

[[Merkwiller-Pechelbronn]] is said to be the first European site where petroleum has been explored and used. The still active Erdpechquelle, a spring where petroleum appears mixed with water has been used since 1498, notably for medical purposes.

===19th century===
[[File:West Lothian shale bing, Scotland.JPG|thumb|Shale [[spoil tip|bings]] near [[Broxburn]], three of a total of 19 in [[West Lothian]], Scotland]]
[[File:Ride with hitler.jpg|thumb|A [[World War II]] poster promoting [[carpooling]] as a way to ration vital gasoline during the war]]

There was activity in various parts of the world in the mid-19th century. A group directed by Major Alexeyev of the Bakinskii Corps of Mining Engineers hand-drilled a well in the Baku region of Bibi-Heybat in 1846.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Matveichuk |first=Alexander A |date=2004 |title=Intersection of Oil Parallels: Historical Essays |journal=Russian Oil and Gas Institute}}</ref> There were engine-drilled wells in West Virginia in 1859, the same year as Drake's well.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=McKain |first1=David L. |title=Where It All Began: The Story of the People and Places Where the Oil Industry Began – West Virginia and South-eastern Ohio |last2=Bernard |first2=L. Allen |publisher=D.L. McKain |year=1994 |location=Parkersburg, WV |asin=B0006P93DY}}</ref> An early commercial well was hand dug in [[Poland]] in 1853, and another in nearby [[Romania]] in 1857. At around the same time the world's first, small, oil refinery was opened at [[Jasło]] in Poland (then Austria), with a larger one opened at [[Ploiești]] in Romania shortly after. Romania (then being a vassal of the Ottoman Empire) is the first country in the world to have had its annual crude oil output officially recorded in international statistics: 275 tonnes for 1857.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The History Of Romanian Oil Industry |url=http://www.rri.ro/arh-art.shtml?lang=1&sec=9&art=3596 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603102058/http://www.rri.ro/arh-art.shtml?lang=1&sec=9&art=3596 |archive-date=June 3, 2009 |website=rri.ro}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Thomas Eakins |title=Scenes from Modern Life: World Events: 1844–1856 |url=https://www.pbs.org/eakins/we_1844.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705142847/https://www.pbs.org/eakins/we_1844.htm |archive-date=July 5, 2017 |website=pbs.org}}</ref>

In 1858, Georg Christian Konrad Hunäus found a significant amount of petroleum while drilling for [[lignite]] in [[Wietze]], Germany. Wietze later provided about 80% of German consumption in the Wilhelmine Era.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lucius |first=Robert von |date=June 23, 2009 |title=Deutsche Erdölförderung: Klein-Texas in der Lüneburger Heide |language=de |work=FAZ.NET |url=https://www.faz.net/1.812092 |url-status=live |access-date=March 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170126111737/https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/deutsche-erdoelfoerderung-klein-texas-in-der-lueneburger-heide-1812092.html |archive-date=January 26, 2017 |issn=0174-4909}}</ref> The production stopped in 1963, but Wietze has hosted a Petroleum Museum since 1970.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deutsches Erdölmuseum Wietze |url=http://www.erdoelmuseum.de/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014171832/http://www.erdoelmuseum.de/ |archive-date=October 14, 2017 |access-date=March 18, 2018 |website=www.erdoelmuseum.de}}</ref>

Oil sands have been mined since the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 23, 1880 |title=The oil wells of Alsace; a discovery made more than a century ago. What a Pennsylvania operator saw abroad, primitive methods of obtaining oil, the process similar to that used in coal mining |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1880/02/23/98888884.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=June 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218003110/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1880/02/23/98888884.pdf |archive-date=December 18, 2019}}</ref> In [[Wietze]] in lower Saxony, natural asphalt/bitumen has been explored since the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Erdöl in Wietze |date=1994 |publisher=Geiger |isbn=978-3-89264-910-6 |edition=1. Aufl |location=Horb am Neckar |oclc=75489983}}</ref> Both in Pechelbronn as in Wietze, the coal industry dominated the petroleum technologies.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Karlsch |first1=Rainer |title=Faktor Öl: die Mineralölwirtschaft in Deutschland 1859–1974 |last2=Stokes |first2=Raymond G. |date=2003 |publisher=C.H. Beck |others=Stokes, Raymond G. |isbn=978-3-406-50276-7 |location=Munich |oclc=52134361}}</ref>

Chemist [[James Young (chemist)|James Young]] in 1847 noticed a natural petroleum seepage in the coal mine at riddings [[Alfreton]], [[Derbyshire]] from which he distilled a light thin oil suitable for use as lamp oil, at the same time obtaining a more viscous oil suitable for lubricating machinery. In 1848, Young set up a small business refining crude oil.<ref name="russell" />

Young eventually succeeded, by distilling [[cannel coal]] at low heat, in creating a fluid resembling petroleum, which when treated in the same way as the seep oil gave similar products. Young found that by slow distillation he could obtain several useful liquids from it, one of which he named "paraffine oil" because at low temperatures it congealed into a substance resembling paraffin wax.<ref name="russell">{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Loris S. |title=A Heritage of Light: Lamps and Lighting in the Early Canadian Home |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8020-3765-7}}</ref>

The production of these oils and solid [[paraffin wax]] from coal formed the subject of his patent dated October 17, 1850. In 1850, Young & Meldrum and Edward William Binney entered into partnership under the title of E.W. Binney & Co. at [[Bathgate]] in [[West Lothian]] and E. Meldrum & Co. at Glasgow; their works at Bathgate were completed in 1851 and became the first truly commercial oil-works in the world with the first modern oil refinery.<ref>{{Cite web |last=By |first=Undiscovered Scotland |title=James Young: Biography on Undiscovered Scotland |url=http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/y/jamesyoung.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629094925/https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/y/jamesyoung.html |archive-date=June 29, 2017 |access-date=March 18, 2018 |website=www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk}}</ref>
{{Clarify|date=December 2023|reason=the preceding statement seems to say the first modern refinery was completed in 1851; the subsequent statement says the first refinery was built in 1856: the distinction between these two types could be detailed for better comprehension}}

The world's first oil refinery was built in 1856 by [[Ignacy Łukasiewicz]] in Austria.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frank, Alison Fleig |title=Oil Empire: Visions of Prosperity in Austrian Galicia (Harvard Historical Studies) |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-674-01887-7}}</ref> His achievements also included the discovery of how to distill kerosene from seep oil, the invention of the modern [[kerosene lamp]] (1853), the introduction of the first modern street lamp in Europe (1853), and the construction of the world's first modern [[oil well|oil "mine"]] (1854).<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 19, 2007 |title=Skansen Przemysłu Naftowego w Bóbrce / Museum of Oil Industry at Bobrka |url=http://www.geo.uw.edu.pl/BOBRKA/DATY/daty.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519031720/http://www.geo.uw.edu.pl/BOBRKA/DATY/daty.htm |archive-date=May 19, 2007 |access-date=March 18, 2018}}</ref> at [[Bóbrka, Krosno County|Bóbrka]], near [[Krosno]] (still operational as of 2020).

The demand for petroleum as a fuel for lighting in [[North America]] and around the world quickly grew.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maugeri |first=Leonardo |url=https://archive.org/details/ageofoilmytholog0000maug/page/3 |title=The age of oil: the mythology, history, and future of the world's most controversial resource |date=2005 |publisher=Lyons Press |isbn=978-1-59921-118-3 |edition=1st Lyons Press |location=Guilford, CN |page=[https://archive.org/details/ageofoilmytholog0000maug/page/3 3] |oclc=212226551 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

The first oil well in the Americas was drilled in 1859 by [[Edwin Drake]] at what is now called the [[Drake Well]] in [[Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania]]. There also was a company associated with it, and it sparked a major oil drilling boom.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vassiliou |first=Marius S. |title=Historical dictionary of the petroleum industry, 2nd Edition |date=2018 |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-1159-8 |location=Lanham, MD |page=621 |oclc=315479839}}</ref>

The [[History of the petroleum industry in Canada#Early origins|first commercial oil well]] in [[Canada]] became operational in 1858 at [[Oil Springs, Ontario]] (then [[Canada West]]).<ref name="lclmg.org">[http://www.lclmg.org/lclmg/Museums/OilMuseumofCanada/BlackGold2/OilHeritage/OilSprings/tabid/208/Default.aspx Oil Museum of Canada, Black Gold: Canada's Oil Heritage, Oil Springs: Boom & Bust] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729191500/http://www.lclmg.org/lclmg/Museums/OilMuseumofCanada/BlackGold2/OilHeritage/OilSprings/tabid/208/Default.aspx |date=July 29, 2013 }}</ref> Businessman [[James Miller Williams]] dug several wells between 1855 and 1858 before discovering a rich reserve of oil four metres below ground.<ref>Turnbull Elford, Jean. "Canada West's Last Frontier". Lambton County Historical Society, 1982, p. 110</ref>{{Specify|reason=Unlear citation style.|date=December 2018}} Williams extracted 1.5&nbsp;million litres of crude oil by 1860, refining much of it into kerosene lamp oil. Williams's well became commercially viable a year before Drake's Pennsylvania operation and could be argued to be the first commercial oil well in North America.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oil Museum of Canada, Black Gold: Canada's Oil Heritage |url=http://www.lclmg.org/lclmg/Museums/OilMuseumofCanada/BlackGold2/OilHeritage/OilSprings/tabid/208/Default.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729191500/http://www.lclmg.org/lclmg/Museums/OilMuseumofCanada/BlackGold2/OilHeritage/OilSprings/tabid/208/Default.aspx |archive-date=July 29, 2013 |website=lclmg.org}}</ref> The discovery at Oil Springs touched off an [[oil boom]] which brought hundreds of speculators and workers to the area. Advances in drilling continued into 1862 when local driller Shaw reached a depth of 62 metres using the spring-pole drilling method.<ref>{{Cite book |last=May |first=Gary |title=Hard oiler!: the story of Canadiansʼ quest for oil at home and abroad |date=1998 |publisher=Dundurn Press |isbn=978-1-55002-316-9 |location=Toronto |page=43 |oclc=278980961}}</ref> On January 16, 1862, after an explosion of [[natural gas]], Canada's first oil gusher came into production, shooting into the air at a recorded rate of {{convert|3000|oilbbl|m3|order=flip}} per day.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ford |first=R.W. A |title=History of the Chemical Industry in Lambton County |year=1988 |page=5}}</ref> By the end of the 19th century the Russian Empire, particularly the [[Branobel]] company in [[Azerbaijan]], had taken the lead in production.<ref name="Akiner">{{cite book |editor1=Akiner, Shirin |editor2=Aldis, Anne |title=The Caspian: Politics, Energy and Security |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7007-0501-6|page=5}}
</ref>

===20th century===
Access to oil was and still is a major factor in several military conflicts of the 20th century, including [[World War II]], during which oil facilities were a major strategic asset and were [[Oil Campaign chronology of World War II|extensively bombed]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Baldwin |first=Hanson |title=Oil Strategy in World War II |url=http://www.oil150.com/essays/article?article_id=91 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815114446/http://www.oil150.com/essays/2007/08/oil-strategy-in-world-war-ii |archive-date=August 15, 2009 |website=oil150.com |publisher=American Petroleum Institute Quarterly – Centennial Issue |pages=10–11}}</ref> The [[German invasion of the Soviet Union]] included the goal to capture the [[Petroleum industry in Azerbaijan|Baku oilfields]], as it would provide much-needed oil supplies for the German military which was suffering from blockades.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alakbarov |first=Farid |title=10.2 An Overview – Baku: City that Oil Built |url=http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai102_folder/102_articles/102_overview_alakbarov.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213083150/http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai102_folder/102_articles/102_overview_alakbarov.html |archive-date=December 13, 2010 |access-date=March 18, 2018 |website=azer.com}}</ref>

Oil exploration in North America during the early 20th century later led to the U.S. becoming the leading producer by mid-century. As petroleum production in the U.S. peaked during the 1960s, the United States was surpassed by [[Saudi Arabia]] and the [[Soviet Union]] in total output.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Christopher S. Wren Special to The New York |date=November 13, 1974 |title=Soviet Moves Ahead of U.S. in oil output. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/13/archives/soviet-moves-ahead-of-us-in-oil-output-minister-sees-mondale.html |url-status=live |access-date=April 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531155823/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/13/archives/soviet-moves-ahead-of-us-in-oil-output-minister-sees-mondale.html |archive-date=May 31, 2020 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=July 12, 2018 |title=US expected to surpass Saudi Arabia, Russia as world's top oil producer |work=Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2018/0712/US-expected-to-surpass-Saudi-Arabia-Russia-as-world-s-top-oil-producer |url-status=live |access-date=April 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516034628/https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2018/0712/US-expected-to-surpass-Saudi-Arabia-Russia-as-world-s-top-oil-producer |archive-date=May 16, 2020 |issn=0882-7729}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zKEe6yC-IQcC&q=Annual+Energy+Review+1987&pg=PA252 |title=Annual Energy Review |date=1990 |publisher=The Administration |page=252 |language=en |access-date=November 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122221351/https://books.google.com/books?id=zKEe6yC-IQcC&q=Annual+Energy+Review+1987&pg=PA252 |archive-date=November 22, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In [[1973 oil crisis|1973]], Saudi Arabia and other [[Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries|Arab nations]] imposed an [[oil embargo]] against the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and other Western nations which supported [[Israel]] in the [[Yom Kippur War]] of October 1973.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 23, 1973 |title=The Arab Oil Threat |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/23/archives/the-arab-oil-threat.html |url-status=live |access-date=July 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722073135/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/23/archives/the-arab-oil-threat.html |archive-date=July 22, 2019}}</ref> The embargo caused an [[1973 oil crisis|oil crisis]]. This was followed by the [[1979 oil crisis]], which was caused by a drop in [[oil production]] in the wake of the [[Iranian Revolution]] and caused oil prices to more than double.

===21st century===
The two oil price shocks had many short- and long-term effects on global politics and the global economy.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 18, 2006 |title=The price of oil – in context |work=CBC News |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/oil/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609145246/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/oil/ |archive-date=June 9, 2007}}</ref>  They led to sustained reductions in demand as a result of substitution to other fuels, especially coal and nuclear, and improvements in [[Efficient energy use|energy efficiency]], facilitated by government policies.<ref>{{Cite web |last=World Bank |title=Commodity Markets Outlook: The Impact of the War in Ukraine on Commodity Markets, April 2022. |url=https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/37223/CMO-April-2022.pdf}}</ref> High oil prices also induced investment in oil production by non-OPEC countries, including Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, the North Sea offshore fields of the United Kingdom and Norway, the Cantarell offshore field of Mexico, and oil sands in Canada.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Commodity Markets: Evolution, Challenges, and Policies |url=https://www.worldbank.org/en/research/publication/commodity-markets |access-date=May 13, 2022 |website=World Bank |language=en}}</ref>

About 90 percent of vehicular fuel needs are met by oil. Petroleum also makes up 40 percent of total energy consumption in the [[United States]], but is responsible for only one percent of electricity generation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=EIA – Electricity Data |url=https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_1_1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710095902/https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_1_1 |archive-date=July 10, 2017 |access-date=April 18, 2017 |website=www.eia.gov}}</ref> Petroleum's worth as a portable, dense energy source powering the vast majority of vehicles and as the base of many industrial chemicals makes it one of the world's most important [[commodities]].

The top three oil-producing countries as of 2018 are the United States, [[Russia]], and [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref name="U.S. Energy Information Administration">{{Cite web |title=The United States is now the largest global crude oil producer |url=https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=37053 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003230307/https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=37053 |archive-date=October 3, 2018 |access-date=October 6, 2018 |website=www.eia.gov |publisher=Today in Energy – U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)}}</ref> In 2018, due in part to developments in [[hydraulic fracturing]] and [[horizontal drilling]], the United States became the world's largest producer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=US soon to leapfrog Saudis, Russia as top oil producer |url=https://www.abqjournal.com/1195285/us-soon-to-leapfrog-saudis-russia-as-top-oil-producer.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006075340/https://www.abqjournal.com/1195285/us-soon-to-leapfrog-saudis-russia-as-top-oil-producer.html |archive-date=October 6, 2018 |access-date=October 6, 2018 |website=www.abqjournal.com |publisher=The Associated Press}}</ref>

About 80 percent of the world's readily accessible reserves are located in the [[Middle East]], with 62.5 percent coming from the Arab five: [[Saudi Arabia]], [[United Arab Emirates]], [[Iraq]], [[Qatar]], and [[Kuwait]]. A large portion of the world's total oil exists as unconventional sources, such as [[bitumen]] in [[Athabasca oil sands]] and [[extra heavy oil]] in the [[Orinoco Belt]]. While significant volumes of oil are extracted from oil sands, particularly in Canada, logistical and technical hurdles remain, as oil extraction requires large amounts of heat and water, making its net energy content quite low relative to conventional crude oil. Thus, Canada's oil sands are not expected to provide more than a few million barrels per day in the foreseeable future.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 18, 2017 |title=Canada's oil sands survive, but can't thrive in a $50 oil world |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-oilsands-economics-analysis-idUSKBN1CN0FD |url-status=live |access-date=April 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518005508/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-oilsands-economics-analysis-idUSKBN1CN0FD |archive-date=May 18, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Crude Oil Forecast {{!}} Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers |url=https://www.capp.ca/resources/crude-oil-forecast/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200515020045/https://www.capp.ca/resources/crude-oil-forecast/ |archive-date=May 15, 2020 |access-date=April 5, 2020 |website=CAPP |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=IHS Markit: Canadian oil sands production to be ~1M barrels higher by 2030 but with lower annual growth; boosted by deterioration in Venezuela |url=https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/06/20190606-oilsands.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531155825/https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/06/20190606-oilsands.html |archive-date=May 31, 2020 |access-date=April 5, 2020 |website=Green Car Congress}}</ref>