It is produced in 70 of Oklahoma's 77 counties. But before this petroleum can be used, it must first go through a process called refining. Oklahoma has five oil refineries and 73 natural gas processing plants. Through refining, oil is heated until it separates into many different parts. These parts are then used to make products like gasoline, jet fuel, heating fuel, tar and plastics.
Natural gas is much easier to refine.
It is cleaned and then for safety reasons an odor is added. The oil and natural gas that we use today are the remains of microscopic plants and animals that lived in oceans millions of years ago. When these plants and animals died, they sank to the bottom of the oceans where they were buried by sand and silt. As this process continued, the dead plants and animals were buried deeper and deeper. Over time, the pressure and temperature rose, transforming the plants and animals into hydrocarbons-compounds of hydrogen and carbon we call petroleum.