ABSTRACT
Petroleum is perhaps the most important substance consumed in modern society. It provides
not only raw materials for the ubiquitous plastics and other products, but also fuel for energy,
industry, heating, and transportation. The word petroleum, derived from the Latin petra and
oleum, means literally rock oil and refers to hydrocarbons that occur widely in the sedimentary
rocks in the form of gases, liquids, semisolids, or solids.
