Tarjeta De Intidad

1. PETROLEUM INDUSTRY

The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline (petrol). Petroleum is also the raw material for many chemical products, including pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilizers,pesticides, and plastics. The industry is usually divided into three major components: upstream, midstream and downstream. Midstream operations are usually included in the downstream category.

Petroleum is vital to many industries, and is of importance to the maintenance of industrialized civilization itself, and thus is a critical concern for many nations. Oil accounts for a large percentage ofthe world’s energy consumption. The world consumes 30 billion barrels (4.8 km³) of oil per year, with developed nations being the largest consumers. The United States consumed 25% of the oil produced in 2007. The production, distribution, refining, and retailing of petroleum taken as a whole, represents the world's largest industry in terms of dollar value.

Petroleum, in one form or another, hasbeen used since ancient times, and is now important across society, including in economy, politics and technology. The rise in importance was mostly due to the invention of the internal combustion engine and the rise in commercial aviation. Today, about 90% of vehicular fuel needs are met by oil. Petroleum also makes up 40% of total energy consumption in the United States, but is responsible foronly 2% of electricity generation. 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 chemical structure of petroleum is heterogeneous, composed of hydrocarbon chains of different lengths. Because of this, petroleum may be taken to oil refineries andthe hydrocarbon chemicals separated by distillation and treated by other chemical processes, to be used for a variety of purposes. The most common distillations of petroleum are fuels. Fuels include: Ethane, diesel fuel (petrodiesel), fuel oils, gasoline (petrol), Jet fuel, kerosene, Liquefied petroleum gas. Certain types of resultant hydrocarbons may be mixed with other non-hydrocarbons, to createother end products: alkenes, lubricants, asphalt, paraffin, aromatic petrochemicals, etc.

The presence of oil has significant social and environmental impacts, from accidents and routine activities such as seismic exploration, drilling, and generation of polluting wastes, greenhouse gases and climate change not produced by renewable energy. Oil extraction is costly and sometimesenvironmentally damaging, although Offshore exploration and extraction of oil disturbs the surrounding marine environment. Crude oil and refined fuel spills from tanker ship accidents have damaged natural ecosystems. Oil spills at sea are generally much more damaging than those on land, since they can spread for hundreds of nautical miles in a thin oil slick which can cover beaches with a thin coating of oil.This can kill sea birds, mammals, shellfish and other organisms it coats. Oil spills on land are more readily containable if a makeshift earth dam can be rapidly bulldozed around the spill site before most of the oil escapes, and land animals can avoid the oil more easily.

1.1 ACTIVITIES

1. Write false (F) or true (T). If the sentence is false, write the correct information.
a. Gas isthe most common petroleum product in the marketing. ( )
b. The petroleum industry includes processes of exploration, extraction, refining and transporting. ( )
c. Oil production represents a guarantee of existence for many nations around the world. ( )
d. The American continent consumes 44% of world oil. ( )
e. The oil consumption increased when the aviation industry advanced. ( )...