Oil
is the world's most important traded commodity, one of the most
important sources of energy, and feedstock for many products.
Refined
oil products are, roughly, divided into the four main categories:
Fuels. Lubricants. Vaxes.
Asphalt (bitumen)
- Fuels
is the largest of these categories, with the largest product
volumes and number of products. Fuels include oil products
used for energy generation (heat and power) or for transportation
(vehicle engines). Here one finds aviation fuel for aircraft,
bunkering oils for ships, and petrol (gasoline) and diesel
fuel for vehicles driven on land. Fuels also include light
and heavy fuel oils for heating and power (generation of
electricity).
- The
volumes of lubricants produced from crude oil are
small but the number of individual and highly specialized
products is big (several thousands). Functional additives
are added to basic lubricants to generate "tailor-made"
products for specific uses.
- Vaxes
are used as raw material for various products. Candles are
made of vaxes, as are a variety of products used for polishing
and for adding a protective, water-repellent layer to different
materials.
- Asphalt
(bitumen) is mainly used for roads and other surfaces, but
as special qualities of asphalt have also been developed
this category of oil products are used for different industrial
purposes.
Oil
is the raw material for industry to manufacture thousands
of industrial and consumer products. Crude oil
constitutes the raw material for production of
plastics (polymeres). Polymeres in plastics are organic (carbon)
compounds. When crude oil is cracked (a process where large
molecules are reduced into smaller ones), ethylene and propene
are obtained. These can be polymerized directly or transformed
through various chemical reactions into polymeres.
Furthermore,
oil is used for the manufacture of products such as rubber,
paints, fertilizers, detergents, dyes, textiles, solvents,
medicine, cosmetics, ink, pesticides, varnishes and much more.
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