Talk:Crude oil

Should this article be merged with petroleum ? Both articles seem to refer to the same thing. --Iediteverything 13:59, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC)


 * I agree, would need to mention that the terms crude oil and petroleum seem to be used as synonyms by the general public, although I would tend to use petroleum to refer to both crude oil and all the products derived from it, leaving crude oil per se to refer to the stuff that comes out of the ground. --GPoss 11:41, Sep 3, 2004 (UTC)

Questions to answer (perhaps not all in this article, but in related ones):


 * What's the general chemical composition of crude oil? (IIRC every different hydrocarbon compound under the sun with some other stuff thrown in)
 * How did it form?
 * When was it first discovered and put to use?
 * Where is it found?
 * How is it located?
 * How is it extracted from the ground once located?
 * How is it moved from place to place (oil tankers, pipelines etc).
 * What is it used for once extracted?
 * How is it processed into those end products?
 * What environmental hazards does the extraction, refinement, transport and use of crude oil pose?
 * How much of it do we have left? How much of that can we extract at a reasonable price?
 * What alternatives exist? Are there areas where no alternatives currently exist?

--Robert Merkel

Following the link to petroleum will answer the first question and part of the eighth. --the Epopt

this site is confusing
im searching for information on locating crude oil. i was given a link to you page and you do mention locating crude oil but yuo dont give any links of information on how to find these related articles. might i suggest that if you are providing information on your site you either make it complete or dont include it at all.


 * Well ... tell you what ... how about we give you a full, 100% refund? Hold out your hand and I'll give you your nothing back.


 * But seriously now, any artice here can be improved - and, in the fullness of time, will be improved. You can help. Set out here, on this talk page, the exact sort of think that you think could improve the article, and, sooner or later, someone who has the right sort of training will come along and do it. I don't have that training, but someone will. Tannin 10:52, 28 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Question about NYMEX vs. IPE
In this page there is said that NYMEX is 'ultimate' trading place of crude oil, i've been on impression that IPE @ London is also a big player in this field, and that there's coming new rookie from Iran. I don't know the fact's about this, so i'm not modifying this article...but if someone want's to take a deeper look at it, please do so.

Preventing the provision of metric values
I added metric values, but they were deleted by GPoss with the comment: No one in the oil business talks about crude oil prices in other than US$/bbl, even if everything else is metric!

Wikipedia has many metric readers outside the oil business. It also has many readers outside the United States. It is difficult enough to translate from US dollars. Metric units were provided as a courtesy in accordance with the manual of style. Are there any other reasons that the manual of style should not apply? Bobblewik 10:31, 7 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I normally work and think in metric and am not from the USA. No one I know has any feel for crude oil price in anything other than $US/bbl (I have lived in Australia and Europe): even here in Australia (otherwise metric) the everyday press reports oil prices in $US/bbl and you never see the price reported as A$/m3, but sometimes as $A/bbl. Same in Europe (otherwise 100% metric), the general press talks $US/bbl for crude oil.

If it was petrol then you'd have a point, here we talk Acpl and in Europe they talk $US/m3 and in Japan Yen/Ml. The point of doing a conversion is to make the article accessible to more people...but it's only worth doing this up to a point, and I repeat that there are few people who actually have a feel for $US/m3 wrt crude oil. If you really want to add the conversion back, go ahead (if you really belive it improves the entry): just do not add the conversion where the article refers to the price as being "Brent plus US$0.25", as that is in quotes, reflects what someone would actually say or write, and people do not do deals at $/m3 spreads. --GPoss 12:36, Aug 7, 2004 (UTC)


 * I take your point about prices. I will leave the page as it is now. Thanks for your response.
 * Bobblewik 13:26, 7 Aug 2004 (UTC)