How oil was formed in nature

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

Often people call oil “black gold”, as it brings a good profit to those people who produce it. Many people wonder how oil was formed and what its composition is. Next, let's try to figure it out.

Main Components

The composition of oil includes the following components:

- Hydrocarbon. This component is divided, in turn, into naphthenic, methane and aromatic elements.

- Asph alt resinous. The group of these elements is also divided into substances soluble in gasoline. They are called asph altenes. And also on insoluble elements (resins).

- Cindery. These are various chemicals produced when oil is burned.

Purpose

This product comes in two varieties. Namely, there is crude and refined oil. In the first case, we mean a substance that was formed in nature. Among other things, it consists of fragments of rocks, gases, water and s alts. Due to the fact that these components do not carry anything useful to a person and harm the equipment of oil producers, they are disposed of byoil refining.

Plastics, cleaning products, paints, explosives are made from the specified mineral. Diesel fuel and gasoline are also produced from oil. Even car tires are made from this mineral. Some medicines are also made from oil.

The specified fossil is a fuel raw material. And this is where the transformation of energy comes from. Namely, mechanical, thermal, etc. If oil reserves are exhausted, then people will have to look for a replacement for it. This substance will most likely replace the hydrogen contained in the water. But humanity still has to learn how to produce energy from hydrogen. To date, scientists are working on this issue.

How did oil form?

Let's consider this item in more detail. There are two theories about how oil was formed. Today they have their opponents and supporters among scientists.

Theory No. 1 is called biogenic. According to it, the process of oil formation was carried out from the organic remains of various animals and plants over many millions of years. This theory was first put forward by the famous Russian scientist Lomonosov M. V.

Human civilization is developing much faster than the rate of oil formation. Therefore, it is a non-renewable natural resource. According to the biogenic theory, oil will run out in the near future. Some scientists predict that the extraction of "black gold" will last no more than 30years.

Another theory is much more optimistic and gives hope to the major oil companies. They call it abiogenic. The founder of this theory was D. I. Mendeleev. One day, while visiting Baku, he met the famous geologist Herman Abich, who shared his thoughts with him about how oil was formed. Abich noted that all large deposits of this mineral are located mainly near cracks and faults in the earth's crust.

Taking into account this information, Mendeleev created his own theory of how oil is formed in nature. It says that surface waters, which penetrate deep into the earth's crust through cracks, react with metals and their carbides. As a result, hydrocarbons are formed. They rise gradually along the same cracks in the earth's crust. Over time, an oil field is formed in these places. This process takes no more than 10 years.

This theory about how oil was formed on earth gives scientists the right to assert that the reserves of this substance will last for many more centuries. That is, the deposits of this mineral will be able to recover if a person stops mining for a while. It is absolutely impossible to do this in conditions of constant population growth. One hope remains for new deposits. To date, works are presented to identify the latest evidence of the truth of the abiogenic theory. A well-known Moscow scientist showed that if you heat up to 400 degrees any hydrocarbon thathas a polynaphthenic component, pure oil will be released. This is a sure fact.

Artificial oil

This product can be obtained under laboratory conditions. This was learned to do in the last century. Why do people extract oil deep underground, and do not get it by synthesis? The fact is that it will have a huge market value. It is completely unprofitable to produce it.

The fact that this product can be obtained under laboratory conditions confirms the abiogenic theory above. It has been supported by many lately.

What makes natural gas

Let's consider for comparison the origin of this mineral. The dead living organisms, having sunk to the bottom of the sea, were in an environment where they did not decay either as a result of oxidation (there is practically no air and oxygen) or under the influence of microbes. As a result, silty sediments formed from them. Thanks to geological movements, they descended to great depths, penetrating into the bowels of the earth. Over millions of years, these sediments were exposed to high temperatures and pressures. As a result, a certain process took place in these deposits. That is, the carbon that was contained in the sediments turned into compounds called hydrocarbons. This process is of no small importance in the formation of this substance.

High molecular weight hydrocarbons are liquid substances. From them, oil was created. And herelow molecular weight hydrocarbons are substances of the gaseous type. There are a lot of them in nature. It is from them that natural gas is obtained. Only for this higher pressures and temperatures are needed. Therefore, where oil is produced, there is always natural gas.

Over time, many deposits of these minerals have gone to a considerable depth. Over millions of years, sedimentary rocks covered them.

Determining the price of oil

Let's consider this terminology as well. The price of oil is the presence of a monetary equivalent of the ratio of supply and demand. There is a certain relationship here. That is, if supply falls, then the cost rises until it equalizes with demand.

The price of oil also depends on the quotes of futures or contracts for this product of one sort or another. This is a significant factor. Thanks to the operational quotation of oil, it is sometimes profitable to trade futures on stock indices. The cost of this product is indicated in the international format. Namely, in US dollars per barrel. Thus, a price of 45.50 on UKOIL means that 1 barrel of the indicated Brent product costs $45.50.

The price of oil is a very important indicator for the Russian stock market. Its importance has a great influence on the development of the country. Basically, the dynamics of this indicator is determined by the economic situation in the United States. This is important to know in deciding how the price of oil is formed. For effectiveforecasting the dynamics of the stock market requires an overview of the value of a given mineral over a certain time (per week), and not just what the price is today.

Result

All of the above contains a lot of useful information. After reading this text, everyone will be able to understand the solution of the question of how oil and gas are formed in nature.