Mineral oil had been discovered a long time ago but it was not known how to use it, until 1892. Rudolf Diesel invented diesel fuel to be used in engines. Now, diesel fuel is used worldwide. Mineral oil includes many different compositions; therefore, many kinds of products which bring many benefits to people are made from mineral oil such as gas, petrol, lubricant, tar and so on. Mineral oil has been used in many fields of life. First of all, gas, a light component of mineral oil (from C1 to C4), is used widely in daily life, especially, in creating electricity.
Therefore, this power is exploited by most of countries to provide electricity to people. Although, there are many sources of power such as nuclear energy, solar energy or waterpower and so on, they cannot replace gas because it is hard to produce such sources of energy and their cost is expensive.. Moreover, gas is an important fuel, which is used in the family to cook and to keep warm in the winter. Most of the countries in Europe depend on this power source. Consumption for gas is 100m3 a person a year (2008).
Therefore, gas is a necessary fuel that is used in daily life. Second, petrol, a heavy component of mineral oil (from C6 to C10), is used a lot in industry; it is an important fuel that is used essentially in the transportation industry, such as in airports, shipping, road travel, rail travel and so on. Most engines use this fuel. We also recognize the importance of this fuel in American transportation. Petrol is used 70 to 100 per cent (2007). Each person uses, on average, twenty-five cans of petrol for his vehicle a year.
The Vietnamese used fourteen million tons in 2007. Therefore, petrol is very important and necessary in our lives. The heavy component of mineral oil makes other products: tar, candle wax, lubricants, and so on. They are useful and many countries use it. For example, a lubricant is used to prreserve energy by decreasing temperature. Tar is used to build infrastructure on roads, bridges, and so on. Finally, mineral oil is also an essential resource of some countries, especial some Middle East countries.
These countries depend only on this source to develop their resources in exporting. In summary, discovering mineral oil was a great success of human beings because it brought many advantages to people. Although there are many other sources of energy used, they do not replace mineral oil. Mineral oil is a valuable resource; therefore, we must know how to correctly use it in order to bring welfare to people but not lose the balance in our ecological environment by pollution.