Petroleum is a fossil fuel derived from fossilized organic materials. Fossils are leftovers of life that existed eons ago.  Petroleum is as natural as plants and animals that live right now. What is different is that the remains of all that old organic matter settled at the bottom of the sea or lakes or mud and in certain environment conditions including very little oxygen it decomposed first into something called kerogen, a waxy substance that includes fulvic acids and other solids, and then into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons. So petroleum is as natural as me and the tress is my backyard. Why the “horror” of some people at the thought … Continue reading Plants and the chemicals they made. What is petroleum?