History or Origin of Petrol

Petrol or gasolinel is a by product of petroleum or say crude oil. The word was borrowed from French pétrole, which in turn came from Latin petroleum (itself taken over directly into English in the 16th century). This means ‘rock-oil’.Carless Capel, a german wholesaler was the first company to register ‘petrol’ as a trade name in year 1892. It is also called Benzin in Germany which is derived from a chemical named Benzene. Other by products of petroleum are LPG, diesel, kerosene, etc. All are energy rich fuels. Petroleum is formed due to continous compression and heating of decayed organic material settles at the bottom of the sea in absence of oxygen over a period of time and subjected to high pressure. China was first country to drill the oil wells in around 4th century using bamboo poles. But first commercial oil well was drilled in North America in year 1858.

Initially, petrol was used as cleaning liquid to remove strains. It was available in cans. Petrol is also used for lighting in the form of white gas which is highly purified petrol. By 1950′s oil took over as major fuel from the reiging coal and so started evolution of filling stations.

Petrol has been the main reasons for the developments in car engines since last 100 years. Most of the car engines are designed according to the kind of petrol available at that time. Petrol itself has gone through a lot of changes because of the pressure of very high demand which has let to the development of various variants of petrol having a wide range of boiling points with more high and low boiling point hydrocarbons. The addition of these hydrocarbons has resulted in changes in carburetor design and fuel systems of car engines regularly.

Three conditions must be present for oil reservoirs to form: a source rock rich in hydrocarbon material buried deep enough for subterranean heat to cook it into oil; a porous and permeable reservoir rock for it to accumulate in; and a cap rock (seal) or other mechanism that prevents it from escaping to the surface. Within these reservoirs, fluids will typically organize themselves like a three-layer cake with a layer of water below the oil layer and a layer of gas above it, although the different layers vary in size between reservoirs. Because most hydrocarbons are lighter than rock or water, they often migrate upward through adjacent rock layers until either reaching the surface or becoming trapped within porous rocks (known as reservoirs) by impermeable rocks above. However, the process is influenced by underground water flows, causing oil to migrate hundreds of kilometres horizontally or even short distances downward before becoming trapped in a reservoir. When hydrocarbons are concentrated in a trap, an oil field forms, from which the liquid can be extracted by drilling and pumping.

Petroleum is vital to many industries, and is of importance to the maintenance of industrialized civilization itself, and thus is critical concern to many nations. Oil accounts for a large percentage of the world’s energy consumption, ranging from a low of 32% for Europe and Asia, up to a high of 53% for the Middle East. Other geographic regions’ consumption patterns are as follows: South and Central America (44%), Africa (41%), and North America (40%). The world at large consumes 30 billion barrels (4.8 km³) of oil per year, and the top oil consumers largely consist of developed nations.

(Courtsey : Wikipedia)