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1. From organic matter to crude oil
"Petroleum" comes from two Latin words, "petra" and "oleum", and literally means "stone oil". As far back as antiquity, it could be used as a waterproof coating, miracle drug or weapon of war. It was spotted in the Middle East and other parts of the world when it oozed from the surface of the ground. Since Colonel Drake drilled the first oil well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859, oil has become the driving force behind the industrial revolution. By the 1950s, it had overtaken coal as the world's leading energy source.
Oil owes its existence to the burial and subsequent transformation of organic matter derived from plants and micro-organisms. Its formation can be described in several stages, over millions of years.
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From organic matter to crude oil
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