With the right technology, it can also be converted into a form of petroleum known as synthetic crude.
Energy equivalent to 314.7 million tonnes of oil was either produced indigenously or imported in 2010, of which around half was in the form of petroleum.
Both use pistons, valves and electronic fuel injection, but the differences go beyond the form of petroleum that goes in the tank.
Shell, facing $360 million in fines for its participation in other cartels — involving synthetic rubber and bitumen, a thick form of petroleum — revealed the paraffin scheme to European Union authorities on March 17 , 2005
Japan, South Korea, and France are among Qatar's most important trading partners Japan alone receives by far the largest proportion of Qatar's exports, largely in the form of petroleum and petroleum products.
Just over half the country's oil comes from tar sands, a mixture of water, sand, clay and bitumen an extremely dense and thick form of petroleum, which usually must be melted before it can be extracted and refined.
Heat is applied to melt deposits of bitumen, a sticky, tar-like form of petroleum, allowing sand to be separated out so the liquid can drain into an underground reservoir from which it is transported to the surface.
Joseph Glynn, a second-year apprentice — "I learned to weld in the Navy, and I joined the union through a program called Helmets to Hardhats" — followed up on the discussion of imports by describing the black exhaust smoke that is emitted by oceangoing vessels, most of which are powered by a form of petroleum called residual fuel oil.
Tar sands oil is a more recent, dirty and expensive form of petroleum extraction to fuel American cars and trucks.
And sending bitumen down a pipeline is especially problematic and damaging -- it's a more acidic form of petroleum that requires more heat and pressure than conventional oil (which increase pipeline stress) to keep it moving.
