Petroleum - the facts

Petroleum is a naturally occuring liquid found in rock formations in the Earth and is a mix of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights

• Approximately 84% by volume of hydrocarbons present in petroleum is used for energy-rich fuels such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other fuel oils; the other 16% is used as the raw material for many chemical products including pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilizers, and plastics among others
• Petroleum makes up 40% of the total energy consumption in the U.S. However, it is responsible for 90% of vehicular fuel needs but only 2% of electricity generation
• The top three oil producting countries in order are Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the U.S.
• Consumption of oil currently is 84 million barrels of oil per day, or approx. 31 billion barrels per year - current estimations guess that there are about 1.2 trillion easily accessible barrels of oil left in known reserves (this does not include another 3.74 trillion that is to believe to be in oil sands which are more difficult and expensive to extract)
• The U.S. uses 20.5 million barrels of oil per day (or 25% of world usage); we produce 8 million of those and import the rest