The ins and outs of oil refining

Learn about the chemical refinement of crude oil, from cracking to reforming and blending

Just as an organism's digestive system can break down complex molecules in food into simple sugars that cells can use, cracking uses catalysts and other chemicals to break apart large hydrocarbons in crude oil into smaller molecules. These can then be chemically reshaped, combined, or purified into useful petroleum products.

An overview of crude oil, including its constituent hydrocarbons and refinement outputs

The mixture is primarily composed of molecules of carbon and hydrogen atoms bonded into a variety of shapes and lengths, giving each different chemical properties, such as boiling points. Refining can remove elemental impurities—such as sulfur—after hydrocarbons are separated, ensuring the resulting products can be used effectively in other machines, such as car engines.

See where the 100 million barrels of crude oil the world consumes daily end up

From drilling to driving, crude oil is processed in refineries and transformed into everyday products like fuel, plastics, lubricants, and cosmetics. The US currently uses about 20 million of those barrels per day.

The winding journey from Standard Oil to the modern oil industry

Standard Oil’s impact on the business world can be clearly seen today in oil giants like Exxon and Chevron. But the journey from the Rockefellers’ trust to the modern firms was a windy road. After the Supreme Court ordered Standard Oil’s break up, the first step saw it separate into many state-based companies like Standard Oil of California and the Ohio Oil Company. Visualize it here.

Crude oil is the type of oil used to create fuel like gasoline, heating oil, and more

Technically speaking, crude oil is unrefined petroleum. This article dives into the different ways it’s categorized (by density, sulfur content, and origin), and how the combinations of these types of oil are used.

How crude oil is split across oil markets based on geographic origin

Brent, West Texas Intermediate, and Dubai are the three crude oil classes and differ in terms of typical refinery uses, density, sulfur content, and suitability for financial benchmarking. Brent, which originates in the North Sea, is traders' go-to benchmark, in part, because it is easily shipped and politically stable, and used to price most of the crude sold internationally.

Understanding why the US can't use its own crude oil and depends on global markets

Before advancements in fracking technology made lighter shale oil readily available, US refineries had been built and optimized for decades to process heavier oil from other countries with high profitability. Despite being able to refine lighter oil, US oil companies can operate with better margins by exporting it to other nations whose refineries are optimized for it and importing heavier oil, for which the US has the infrastructure.

Understanding the causes and environmental impacts of crude oil spills and leaks

Although some oil regularly leaks from the bottom of the oceans through the gradual erosion of sedimentary rock, major spills result from accidental ruptures of pipelines or damage to transportation vessels or rigs. Oil can break down the water-repelling ability of feathers, remove the insulation of fur, and poison food chains if ingested.

Standard Oil used vertical integration to create an empire

“Vertical integration” is a modern business phrase that refers to a company taking on multiple stages of production—but John D. Rockefeller pioneered it with his Standard Oil company, employing its own plumbers and handling its own oil transportation.

Oil prices have been volatile for decades

This explainer shows oil’s rollercoaster: OPEC-led embargoes in the 1970s, shale surges in the 2000s, and the US flip to becoming a net oil exporter in 2020.

An overview of bioremediation, which can help clean up oil spills, mining waste, and some plastics

The umbrella term refers to a variety of techniques that use organisms to remove harmful substances from an environment or break them down into nontoxic compounds. Because the availability of certain resources can limit the growth of these organisms and impair bioremediation efforts, nutrients such as fertilizers can be deployed to accelerate cleanup.

Oil and natural gas from fracking is considered unconventional

This method forcibly extracts fossil fuels from tightly packed rocks, where they form from organic matter that has undergone extreme heat and pressure. Conventional drilling, on the other hand, waits for the oil and gas to escape from shale and accumulate in more porous and permeable rocks, such as limestone.

Review the health effects of living near oil refineries, including increased respiratory risks

An analysis of 54 studies published between 1977 and 2024 in 15 international regions found evidence that proximity to refineries increased the risks of leukemia, asthma, bronchitis, and respiratory symptoms. Several studies also identified worse cardiovascular function in children and adults living near refineries, alongside other acute and chronic health impacts.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

The science (and scams) behind essential oils

Essential oils are a big business, with industry estimates pegging its market size at $10B last year—a number expected to double by 2030. These distilled plant compounds have a long history of both legitimate and exaggerated uses, and many marketed oils are, as the author of this long read claims, just selling wish fulfillment. Revisit some of the history and contemporary use of essential oils with this piece.

How Big Oil misled the public into believing plastic would be recycled

An NPR and PBS Frontline investigation reveals how the oil and gas industry used the promise of recycling to sell more plastic, even when they knew it would never work on a large scale.

What's inside an Oreo?

If you look at the ingredient list on your Oreo packaging, you may discover that you don't recognize—or can't even pronounce—some of the listed ingredients, let alone know what they're used for! For instance: Did you know that soy lecithin helps makes oil and water mix? Or that cocoa processed with alkali becomes darker and less acidic? A food scientist breaks down what's inside an Oreo in this seven-minute video.

How exchanges like the Chicago Mercantile act as trading referees

Chicago's Mercantile Exchange emphasizes futures contracts on commodities. This podcast episode breaks down how exchanges actually work, make money, and streamline the market.

Real estate is grouped into broad categories: residential, commercial and industrial

Other categories of real estate include raw land and “special use” real estate, which includes cemeteries. Technically speaking, real estate is considered an alternative investment.

The seven major US freight rail companies

The US railroad industry is dominated by seven long-running freight conglomerates. Get the basics on each of these companies with this brief overview.

A statistical breakdown of the global film industry

Dive into this collection of stats and infographics explaining the current state of both Hollywood and the global film industry. The page covers a variety of topics, including independent film production, box office revenue, global film markets, movie-going demographics and more. It also addresses the relatively new phenomenon of home video streaming.

Money laundering is a three-step process: placement, layering, and integration

"Placement" occurs when dirty money is introduced into the financial system. Then "layering" happens when the money is moved around to disguise where it actually came from. Finally, the money is placed in other assets or investments in a step called integration.

A look at how power is restored after an outage on the electric grid

From minor system failures to more widespread blackouts, crews begin by assessing damage done to infrastructure, such as transmission towers and distribution power lines. Prioritizing essential services, such as hospitals, crews then begin restoration, starting with any damage found closest to the power generation and working down the distribution system to customers.

Texas is the state with the most energy sector employees

Texas has more than 990,000 individuals in the energy sector—roughly eight out of every 100 workers statewide. Oil and natural gas production account for more than 289,000 workers.

The industries ripe for disruption by blockchain and cryptocurrencies

Blockchain—what is it good for? Lots of things, it would seem. Peruse this guide from The Motley Fool site and learn about different applications and use cases for blockchain technology. Financial exchanges, real estate, insurance, voting, an gambling are just a few of the 15 applications discussed here.

Wind energy 101

Learn more about the wind industry, from how a wind turbine works, to the new and exciting research in the field of wind energy.

Some renewable energy sources may weaken the resiliency of electric grids by removing outage buffers provided by coal- and natural gas-fired plants, which provide the system with more time to find a new power source if a plant goes down.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

All rainbows are 'raincircles' caused by water droplets separating white sunlight into a spectrum of colors, but Earth's surface blocks the bottom half of the circle from our line of sight.

Corals are themselves not coral reefs—the term refers to the tiny marine invertebrates that build the rigid reef.

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Watch how viruses like Ebola can spill over from animals to humans—and vice-versa.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

The 19th-century painters of the Hudson River School were among the first American romantics, with portraits that displayed the natural beauty of the young country.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight