Oil derrick near Venezuela
Unrefined petroleum pumped from the ground is called crude oil.
crude oil
petroleum product
crude oil, liquid petroleum that is found accumulated in various porous rock formations in Earth’s crust and is extracted for burning as fuel or for processing into chemical products. A summary treatment of crude oil follows. For full treatment, see petroleum, petroleum production, and petroleum refining. Crude oil is a mixture of comparatively volatile liquid hydrocarbons (compounds composed mainly of hydrogen and carbon), though it also contains some nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen. Those elements form...