What Is Petroleum?

There are some places on earth where oil is not trapped underground, but actually seeps out at the earth's surfaceThink Jed Clampett and a "bubbling crude!" This is one of the largest natural petroleum seeps, located in the upper Ojai Valley, California.

petroleumA thick, flammable, yellow-to-black mixture of gaseous, liquid, and solid hydrocarbons that occurs naturally beneath the earth's surface, can be separated into fractions including natural gas, gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, fuel and lubricating oils, paraffin wax, and asphalt and is used as raw material for a wide variety of derivative products. (American Heritage Dictionary)The word petroleum comes from the Latinpetra, meaning rock, andoleum, meaning oil.The oil industry classifies "crude" by the location of its origin and by its relative weight or viscosity ("light", "intermediate" or "heavy"). The relative content of sulfur in natural oil deposits also results in referring to oil as "sweet," which means it contains relatively little sulfur, or as "sour," which means it contains substantial amounts of sulfur.

Category: Oil and gas companies of India

1. Aban Offshore Ltd

Aban Offshore Ltd. is India's largestoffshore drillingservices provider to oil companies, mainly for ONGC. It is now ventured into international waters as one of its five rigs is doing work for anIranianoil company. The company listed on the Mumbai Stock ExchangeLtd,In 2008,

2. Bharat Petroleum

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited(BPCL) is an Indian state-controlledoilandgascompany headquartered inMumbai, Maharashtra. The Corporation operates two large refineries of the country located atMumbaiandKochi. BPCL has been ranked 242th in theFortune Global 500rankings of the world's biggest corporations for the year 2014

3. Bongaigaon Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd.(BRPL)

TheBongaigaon Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd.(BRPL) is apetroleum refinerycompany inIndia. It was incorporated on February 20 in 1974 by the government of India.The company began with initial funds of Rs. 50 crore (Rs. 500 million), which was increased to Rs. 200 crore by December 1983. The total paid capital of the company was Rs. 199.82 crore as of 31 March 2005.

4. Cairn India

Cairn Indiais anoilandgasexploration and production company, headquartered inGurgaon, India.It is a subsidiary ofVedanta Resources. Cairn India is one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in India. Cairn and its JV partners account for more than a fifth of Indias domestic crude oil production.

5. Castrol India Limited

Castrol India Limitedis an automotive and industrial lubricant manufacturing company. Castrol India is the 2nd largest manufacturer of automotive and industrial lubricants in the Indian lubricant market and owns around 22% market share in the overall Indian lubricant market.[3]Its part ofCastrolLimited UK (part ofBPGroup).

6. Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited(CPCL)

Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited(CPCL) is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation headquartered in Chennai, India. It was formed as ajoint venturein 1965 between theGovernment of India(GOI),AMOCOandNational Iranian Oil Company(NIOC) having a share holding in the ratio 74%: 13%: 13% respectively.

7. Essar Energy & Oil Plc

Essar Energy Plcis an Indian-focusedenergycompany with assets in the existing power and oil and gas businesses. Headquartered in Port Louis, Mauritius and subsidiary ofEssar Group, the firm has interests in both thepower generationandpetroleumindustries.

8. Essar Oil

Essar Oilis anIndia-based company engaged in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, refining ofcrude oil, and marketing of petroleum products. It is a part of theEssar Groupbased inMumbai. It operates amajor refineryinVadinar, Gujarat, India, which made it the second largest non-state refiner in India in 2009

9. GAIL (India) Limited

GAIL (India) Limitedis the largest state-owned natural gas processing and distribution company in India, It is headquartered in New Delhi. It has following business segments: Natural Gas, Liquid Hydrocarbon,Liquefied petroleum gasTransmission,Petrochemical, City Gas Distribution, Exploration and Production, GAILTEL andElectricity Generation.

10. Gujarat Gas Company Limited

Gujarat Gas Company Limited(GGCL), is an Indiannatural gasdistribution company. Established in 1980, and headquartered inAhmedabad,[2]the company operates primarily inGujarat.

11. Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd(GSPC) is an oil and gas exploration company inGujarat,India. It is India's only State Government-owned oil and gas company with theGovernment of Gujaratholding approximately 95% equity stake. GSPC was incorporated in 1979 as apetrochemicalcompany.

12. Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd., often referred to asHPL, is the second largestpetrochemicalcompany inIndia, with the company claiming a total capacity equivalent to 7, 00,000 TPA ofethylene.It was formed out of a joint venture betweenGovernment of West Bengal, TheChatterjee Group,TATA GroupandIndian Oil Corporationin 1994. The first commercial production started in 2001. The factory complex is located 125km fromKolkata, atHaldia, in thePurba Medinipurdistrict ofWest Bengal, India

13. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited(HPCL)

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited(HPCL) (BSE:500104,NSE:HINDPETRO) is an Indian state-ownedoilandnatural gascompany with its headquarters atMumbai, Maharashtraand withNavratnastatus. HPCL has been ranked 260th in theFortune Global 500rankings of the world's biggest corporations (2013) and 4th among India's Companies for the year 2012.

14. Indian Oil Corporation

Indian Oil Corporation(IndianOil) is India's largest commercial enterprise, with a sales turnover of Rs. 4,50,756 crore (US$ 73.7 billion) and profits of Rs. 5,273 crore for the year 2014-15.It is also the leading Indian corporate in Fortune's prestigious 'Global 500' listing of the world's largest corporates (and first among Indian enterprises), ranked at the 119th position for the year 2015

15. Indraprastha Gas Limited

Indraprastha Gas Limited(IGL), is one ofIndia's leadingnatural gasdistribution companies. Established in 1998, the company operates primarily in theNational Capital Region(NCR) ofNew Delhi.

16. Mahanagar Gas Limited

Mahanagar Gas Limited(MGL) is a natural gas distribution company located inMumbai,Maharashtra,India. Established in 1995, the company is a joint-venture betweenGAIL,BG Groupand theGovernment of Maharashtra

17. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited(MRPL)

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited(MRPL), is an oil refinery at Mangalore and is a subsidiary ofONGC, set up in 1993. The refinery is located atKatipalla, north from centre ofMangalorecity. The refinery was established after displacing five villages of Bala, Kalavar, Kuthetoor, Katipalla, and Adyapadi.

18. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited(ONGC)

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited(ONGC) is an Indianmultinationaloilandgascompany headquartered inDehradun, India. It is aPublic Sector Undertaking(PSU) of theGovernment of India, under the administrative control of theMinistry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It is India's largestoil and gas explorationand production company. It produces around 69% of India'scrude oil

19. Oil India Limited(OIL)

Oil India Limited(OIL) is the second largesthydrocarbon explorationand production Indian public sector company with its operational headquarters inDuliajan, Assam, India under the administrative control of theMinistry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

20. Petronet LNG Ltd

Petronet LNG Ltdis an Indian oil and gas company formed by the government ofIndiato importliquefied natural gas(LNG) and set up LNG terminals in the country. It is a joint venture company promoted by theGas Authority of India Limited(GAIL),Oil and Natural Gas CorporationLimited (ONGC),Indian Oil CorporationLimited (IOC) 21. Ratnagiri Gas & Power Private Limited

Ratnagiri Gas & Power Private Limited(RGPPL) is ajoint ventureofNTPC LimitedandGAIL. The company was established to takeover and revive the assets of the defunctDabhol Power Company. RGPPL owns the India's largest gas-based power plant and the LNG regasification terminal at Dabhol.

22. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)is anIndianconglomerateholding companyheadquartered inMumbai, Maharashtra, India. Reliance owns businesses across India engaged in energy, petrochemicals, textiles, natural resources, retail and telecommunications. Reliance is the most profitable company in India

23. Reliance Natural Resources Limited

Reliance Natural Resources Limitedis an Indian energy company involved in sourcing, supply and transportation of gas, coal and liquid fuels. The company was incorporated on 24 March 2000 and went public on 25 July 2005.It is a part of theReliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. Reliance Natural Resources has merged withReliance Power.

24. Reliance Petroleum Limited

Reliance Petroleum Limitedwas set up byReliance Industries Limited(RIL), one of India's largest private sector companies based inAhmedabad. Currently, RPL amalgamated with RIL, and has interests in thedownstream oilbusiness. RPL also benefits from a strategic alliance with Chevron India Holdings Pte Limited, Singapore, a wholly owned subsidiary ofChevron CorporationUSA (Chevron), which currently holds a 5% equity stake in the Company