Introduction

What is Petroleum?
A natural, yellow-to-black, flammable,
liquid hydrocarbon found beneath the
earths surface

Definition of Petroleum
The word Petroleum is coined from two
latin words Petra meaning rock and
Oleum meaning oil.
A generic name for hydrocarbons,
including crude oil, natural gas liquids,
natural gas and their products.

PETROLEUM
Petroleum or hydrocarbons are a mixture of
liquids, solids, semi-solids and gases occurring
naturally in the rocks and are loosely called as
MINERAL FUELS also.
Chemically It is a mixture of Hydrogen and
Carbon with minor amounts of nitrogen,
oxygen, sulphur as impurities

Chemical Composition of Oil and Gas

(% by Weight)

Element

Oil

Gas

C
H
S
N
O

84 - 87
11 - 14
0.06 - 2
0.1 - 2
0.1 - 2

65 - 80
1 - 25
0 0.2
1-15
0

Types of Petroleum
1.Crude Oil (Liquid Petroleum) :
These are liquid hydrocarbons that
contain varying amounts of dissolved
gases, bitumens and other impurities.
It is immiscible in water.
It has less density than water and hence
floats on it.
It is soluble in naptha, carbondisulphide,
benzene (C6H6) etc.

Continued

2.Natural Gas ( Petroleum gas) :

Natural gas is composed of lighter paraffin
hydrocarbons (hydrocarbons of the methane
series) the most abundant being methane gas
(CH4).
3. Semi, and Solid forms ( Heavy Hydrocarbons
and Bitumens)
They comprise materials such as asphalt, tar,
pitch etc.

Components of Petroleum
The components of crude oil can be
classified into:
Methane Series : Crude oil belonging to
this is also known as paraffin. The 4 main
types of paraffin's are:

Methane (CH4)

Ethane (C2H6)
Propane (C3H8)
Butane (C4H10)

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b. Naphthene Series:
Crude oil belonging this is also known as
cycloparaffins.
The 2 types are:

cyclopropane (C3H6)

cyclobutane (C4H8)

Chemistry Of Crude Oil

Petroleum is a mixture of a very large
number of different hydrocarbons
The most commonly found molecules are
alkanes (paraffins),
cycloalkanes(naphthenes), aromatic
hydrocarbons, or more complicated
chemicals like asphaltenes.
Each petroleum variety has a unique mix of
molecules, which define its physical and
chemical properties, like color and viscosity

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The alkanes from pentane (C5H12) to

octane (C8H18) are refined into petrol,
From nonane (C9H20) to hexadecane
(C16H34) into diesel fuel, kerosene and
jet fuel,
Alkanes with more than 16 carbon atoms
can be refined into fuel oil and lubricating
oil.
Paraffin wax is an alkane with
approximately 25 carbon atoms

Physical properties of
Crude Oil
API GRAVITY
The American Petroleum Institute gravity,
or API gravity, is a measure of how heavy
or light a petroleum liquid is compared to
water
Mathematically
API = (141.5 / SG) - 131.5

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Oil Formation Volume Factor (Bo)

Oil formation volume factor is defined as
the ratio of the volume of oil at reservoir
conditions to that at stock tank (surface)
conditions. This factor, is used to convert
the flow rate of oil (at stock tank
conditions) to reservoir conditions. It is
defined as:

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Density
density, of a substance is its mass per unit
volume. The symbol most often used for
density is is

Specific Gravity
Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a
substance to the density of a reference
substance.

Continued

Viscosity
Viscosity is a measurement of how
resistant a fluid is to attempts to move
through it. A fluid with a low viscosity is
said to be "thin," while a high viscosity
fluid is said to be "thick." It is easier to
move through a low viscosity fluid (like
water) than a high viscosity fluid (like
honey).