WHAT IS PETROLEUM AND HOW IS IT FORMED?
Petroleum is a dark, oily fluid that is irregularly distributed in sedimentary rocks throughout the world. There are several ideas about the origin of petroleum. The most widely accepted of these is that billions of plants and animals lived and died in widespread seas and their remains decomposed and released fluid, fatty particles. These were distilled into “hydrocarbons” (a mixture of the elements hydrogen and carbon, such as gas and oil).