National Petroleum Day 2023: Date, History, Facts about Petroleum

This year, National Petroleum Day occurs on August 27. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness about industry issues and acknowledge the significance and impact of petroleum resources on our daily existence. It is a day to celebrate this invaluable natural resource and the immense contribution it has made to humanity, national prosperity, and our lives in the twenty-first century. Many individuals in the oil and gas industry use the event as a forum to discuss the challenges they face.

The background of National Petroleum Day

Petroleum, also referred to as crude oil or oil, is a yellowish-black liquid that spontaneously forms within geological formations. It is frequently transformed into various fuels and compounds. In some capacity, petroleum has been utilised since ancient times. According to the famous Greek historian Herodotus, one of the materials used to build the walls of Babylon was petroleum. The ancient Persians utilised petroleum for illumination, as it was used to fill their lamps, as well as for medicinal purposes. Midway through the 1800s, Scottish chemist James Young began distilling petroleum, producing kerosene as well as a thicker, darker oil that was ideal for lubricating machinery.

Ancient China has utilised petroleum for more than 2,000 years. According to the “I Ching,” one of the earliest Chinese texts, oil was discovered, extracted, and used for the first time in China in the 1st century B.C. In addition, the Chinese were the first to record the use of petroleum as a fuel in the fourth century B.C. By 347 A.D., oil was being extracted from bamboo-dug wells in China.

Since the eighteenth century, oil sands have been mined. Young discovered natural petroleum seepage at the Riddings colliery in Alfreton, and by 1848 he had established a modest enterprise refining crude oil. Young was eventually able to extract several valuable liquids from it, one of which he named “paraffine oil.” Young formed a partnership in 1851 that resulted in the first commercial oil refinery and the first modern oil refinery in the world.

5 CRITICAL FACTS ABOUT PETROLEUM

Petroleum can exist in liquid, gaseous, and solid states.

The term petroleum comes from two Latin words: ‘petra,’ which means stone, and ‘oleum,’ which means oil.

A German mineralogist coined the term ‘petroleum’ for the first time in 1556.

The United States utilises approximately 15 million barrels of crude oil per day.

Globally, there are approximately 800,000 producing wells that produce 75 million barrels of oil per day.

NATIONAL PETROLEUM DAY DATES