To get that wonderful black gold that everyone knows and loves, there are steps that need to be taken. First you have to start looking.

Well that’s obvious. Exploration involves geological and aerial surveys to find possible rock formations that could contain oil.

This picture is courtesy of http://www.etechinternational.org. I do not own this picture in anyway.

Ok so they found the rocks what now? Once they find those promising formations, they use seismic waves to map the underneath.

And…? With that taken care of, they then move on to the experimental drilling to see if there is any of that hydrocarbon stuff.

This image is courtesy of http://www.etechinternational.org. I do not own it in anyway shape or form.

Sheesh! What Next? After they drill it and verify that it is, in fact, there they have to see if it is economically viable. If it is, as you can imagine, they drill it. If it isn’t, then well, they drilled for free.

Once this is all said and done, they get to drill for more.

After the extracting, comes the refining. That is another beast altogether.

Up Next: the health part of this blog.

For now, some links to more information:

A more in-depth process

Some potential problems with this process (at least in the Amazon).