Crude oil was formed by hydrocarbons or distillate from decaying animal matter migrating to stratigraphic traps like folds in the sedimentary rocks like anticlines which are dome-shaped folds in the rocks.
In North America, the First Nations used the pitchy tar sands near Fort McMurray to waterproof their canoes long ago before the white man arrived.
In Alberta, the first successful oil well to be drilled was in approximately 1947 called the Leduc well and then oil drilling blossomed from there. Crude oil would be refined to process this oil at that time and broken down into fractions. Large scale expansion of the oil industry got impetus from the widespread use of automobiles and planes in the early part of the 20th century and then once discoveries like the Leduc well were made, then it became apparent that it was possible to figure out where the oil was and then it blossomed. In 1907. Leo Baekeland invented bakelite from petroleum ie a polymer. Nylon and polyester were developed from petroleum in the 1930's and 1941 respectively., In 1865, Edward Roberts, an American discovered that by exploding a torpedo with explosive powder in it in an oil well it could increase the well yield by up to 1200% Peak oil is estimated to be very soon between 2010 and 2030 or most likely before 2020 so anytime soon and after that the reserves are expected to diminish. The world should be converting strongly to alternative energy sources the sooner the better especially to prevent the potential pollution of pipelines and oil tankersl .
Gas turns into plasma when heat or energy is added to it. The atoms that make up the gas start to lose their electrons and become positively charged ions. The lost electrons are then able to float freely. This process is called ionization..
