To find oil and natural gas, companies drill through the earth to the deposits deep below the surface. The oil and natural gas are then pumped from below the ground by oil rigs. They then usually travel through pipelines. At oil refineries, crude oil is split into various types of products by heating the thick black oil. The products include gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation fuel, home heating oil, oil for ships, and oil to burn in power plants to make electricity.
Oil is stored in large tanks until it is sent to various places to be used.
There are thousands of other products that come from oil. Almost all plastic comes originally from oil. Oil is transported in huge pipelines and tanker ships to places where it is made into other products. The origin of the oil industry in India can be traced back to the last part of the 19th century when petroleum was discovered in Digboi in north-east India. Thereafter large numbers of oil fields have been discovered both inland and off-shore.