1 / 14

Origins of Oil

Origins of Oil. Origins of the World’s Oil. Where do we find oil?  In sedimentary rocks originally located between 7500 and 15,000 feet underground, for a long period of time. Origins of the World’s Oil.

abigail-ewing
Download Presentation

Origins of Oil

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Origins of Oil

  2. Origins of the World’s Oil Where do we find oil?  In sedimentary rocks originally located between 7500 and 15,000 feet underground, for a long period of time.

  3. Origins of the World’s Oil We start with organic material (dead plants and animals) that accumulates and then is buried under later layers of silt or mud, underwater.

  4. Origins of the World’s Oil The layers of organic matter and silt/mud need to be buried underwater and then underground for millions of years.

  5. Origins of the World’s Oil  This rock must then be buried underground between 7,500 and 15,000 feet for a combination of heat and pressure to transform the organic matter to oil molecules.

  6. Origins of the World’s Oil Below 15,000, underground heat breaks the organic matter (and any oil) into natural gas. Above 7,500 and the rock hasn’t been squeezed and heated enough to break down the organic material into oil.

  7. Why Isn't there More Oil?

  8. Why Isn’t There More Oil? Normally in nature, organic material is recycled: dead plants, etc. become soil that new plants use.

  9. Why Isn’t There More Oil? Even if the organic material accumulates and is buried, it may not be buried deep enough to convert it to oil.

  10. Why Isn’t There More Oil? Even if organic material does get buried and converted into oil, it can then become more deeply buried and turned into natural gas.

  11. Why Isn’t There More Oil? On top of this, the oil rich sedimentary rock can be pushed upwards, and through a variety of ways, the oil can leak out of the rock.

  12. Why Isn’t There More Oil? The rock also has to have a certain amount of porosity, (microscopic holes and cracks) so the oil can flow.

  13. Why Isn’t There More Oil? Lastly, the oil-bearing rock has to have a non-porous cap so the oil doesn’t leak out.

  14. Why Isn’t There More Oil?  So even if geologists do find the right type of rock, it often doesn’t contain any oil, or extremely small amounts.

More Related