How is oil formed?

Question

Does anyone why some is is drilled fo and some is surface mined like in a quarry?

Answer 1

Depends on the rock its formed under, if its none porous like granite, it stays in the ground and you have to drill for it, if its porous like limestone, it raises to the surface and can be open caste

Answer 2

Oil has been formed from the compressed dead bodies and skins of crustaceans such as shrimps and crabs. It was formed millions of years ago and and was formed over millions of years. This why so much of the oil is found under the sea or where there were seas. Coal is also a fossil fuel and is made from rotting vegetation of which ferns formed a large part. The fossils of ferns were always apparent in the days when coal was extensively used. Coal like oil could be found deep underground or near the surface where the mining was called open cast. There are still open cast mines in The Forest Of Dean in Gloucestershire.

Answer 3

The old idea that oil was created by the decomposition of organic matter has fallen by the wayside. Think of how high the pile of dead shrimp would have to be to create 10 billion gallons of crude? The new theory now is that oil and natural gas are a by-product of of some yet to be discovery hyperthermophile bacteria deep within the earths Mantle. Read "The Deep Hot Biosphere" by Thomas Gold.

Answer 4

How is oil formed ?

Most geologists view crude oil and natural gas, as the product of compression and heating of ancient organic materials over geological time. According to this "organic origin" theory, oil is formed from the preserved remains of prehistoric zooplankton and algae which have been settled to the sea bottom in large quantities under anoxic conditions. (Terrestrial plants tend to form coal) Over geological time this organic matter, mixed with mud, is buried under heavy layers of sediment. The resulting high levels of heat and pressure cause the remains to metamorphose, first into a waxy material known as kerogen which is found in various oil shales around the world, and then with more heat into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons in a process known as catagenesis.

Why is some oil drilled for and some surface mined (quarried)?

Oil, or petroleum, can occur in many different levels of maturity. Some relatively young petroleum can be found in liquid form under ground. If it has been "cooked" under ground inhigher temperatures and pressures, it can become natural gas. Some very petrouelm can occur as oil shale.

Typically liquid petroleum and natural gas are drilled for, because when the petroleum reaches the surface of the earth, it is degraded by bacteria.

Oil Shale is one type of petroleum that is recovered from by surface mining. (Quarries usually are associated with cutting building stone, and shale may be "dug" with large earth-moving equipment.) Processing oil shale into useable things like gasoline is more expensive than starting with liquid petroleum, and it can produce by-products that negatively impact the environment.

Check out the article in the Wikipedia link below for a good and more extensive answer, if you want to learn more.

Answer 5

it is the remains of crushed vegetation from millions of years ago. it died and then more and more layers of rock and dead animals and plants covered it, compressing it and as it decayed it became oil. coal was formed much the same way, but with the remains of animals not plants

hope it helps!

Answer 6

Intelligent Design!

The earth is too young for it to have been formed the conventional 'scientific' way, so it must simply have been put there by God.

Why?

See other questions about why He made dinosaur fossils. Most probably to fuel unbelievers.

;-)

Answer 7

Here is Encarta's entry:
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576221/Petroleum.html

Answer 8

It is the long decayed remains of dead vegetation (and I suppose a few animals too). Hence the name "fossil fuels."

Answer 9

dead vegetation and a few aimals heance name fossil fuels

Answer 10

do some learning