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Most often, mineral oil is a liquid obtained from refining crude oil to make gasoline and other petroleum products. Mineral oils used for lubrication are known specifically as base oils . More generally, mineral oil is a transparent , colorless oil, composed mainly of alkanes [ 2 ] and cycloalkanes , related to petroleum jelly .
Crude oil originates from ancient fossilized organic materials, such as zooplankton and algae, which geochemical processes convert into oil. [8] The name "mineral oil" is a misnomer, in that minerals are not the source of the oil—ancient plants and animals are. Mineral oil is organic.
Petroleum [a] is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture. It consists mainly of hydrocarbons, [1] and is found in geological formations.The term petroleum refers both to naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil, as well as to petroleum products that consist of refined crude oil.
Crude oil is extracted from the bedrock before being processed in several stages, removing natural contaminants and undesirable hydrocarbons. This separation process produces mineral oil, which can in turn be denoted as paraffinic, naphthenic or aromatic. The differences between these different types of oils are not clear-cut, but mainly depend ...
The most common one is a type of paraffinic crude oil, although there are also naphthenic crude oils that create products with better solubility and very good properties at low temperatures. By using hydrogenation technology, in which sulfur and aromatics are removed using hydrogen under high pressure, extremely pure base oils can be obtained ...
The presence of these chemicals in crude oil is a result of the inclusion of biological material in the oil; these chemicals are released by kerogen during the production of hydrocarbon oils, as these are chemicals highly resistant to degradation and plausible chemical paths have been studied. Abiotic defenders state that biomarkers get into ...
Some statistics on this page are disputed and controversial—different sources (OPEC, CIA World Factbook, oil companies) give different figures. Some of the differences reflect different types of oil included. Different estimates may or may not include oil shale, mined oil sands or natural gas liquids.
The three most quoted oil products are North America's West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI), North Sea Brent Crude, and the UAE Dubai Crude, and their pricing is used as a barometer for the entire petroleum industry, although, in total, there are 46 key oil exporting countries. Brent Crude is typically priced at about $2 over the WTI Spot price ...