Oil

An oil is any substance that is in a viscous liquid state at ambient temperatures or slightly warmer, and is both hydrophobic and lipophilic.

However, we more normally use the term oil to describe crude oil that is used to power the industrial world.

The distribution of conventional oil resources between different sizes of field is increasingly well understood. Although there 70,000 oil fields in the world, approximately 25 fields account for one quarter of the global production of crude oil, 100 fields account for half of production and up to 500 fields account for two thirds of cumulative discoveries. [Sorrell et al]

See also: Barrel, Base Oil, Blind Reference Oil, Candidate Oil, Compounded Oil, Dispersant, Engine Oil, Foam Inhibitor, Fossil Fuel, Lubricating Oil, Oil Detergent, Paraffin Oil, Paraffin Wax, Petrol, Petroleum, Reference Oil, Test Oil, Tonne of Oil Equivalent, Used Oil, Viscosity Index, Wax.

Weblinks:

UK Energy Research Centre The focal point for UK research on sustainable energy.