When you are boycotting or riding your bikes on paved roadways, remember oil companies like BP don't just refine crude to make gasoline. When crude oil is refined, its various chemical parts are separated and some become gasoline, some lubricants, some asphalt, and others the raw materials for plastics and rubber and many more things. Petroleum is also the raw material for many chemical products, including pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, and plastics.
Here are some examples of what can be obtained from petroleum (crude oil, natural gas, and/or viscous or solid forms):
Fuels - like gasoline, diesel, propane (many people use propane to heat their homes), heating oil
Heavy bottoms - like asphalt, bitumen, tar
Petrochemicals - used as a feedstock for many everyday products:
plastic gadgets, tools, bags, toys
candles
clothing (polyester, nylon)
hand lotions
petroleum jelly
perfume
dishwashing liquids
ink
bubble gums
car tires
ammonia
heart valves
and many more
Crude oil is refined and used to make all these products:
Ethane and other short-chain alkanes which are used as fuel
Diesel
Fuel oils
Petrol
Jet fuel
Kerosene
Liquid petroleum gas (LPG)
Natural gas
Alkenes (olefins) which can be manufactured into plastics or other compounds
Lubricants (produces light machine oils, motor oils, and greases, adding viscosity stabilizers as required).
Wax, used in the packaging of frozen foods, among others.
Sulfur or Sulfuric acid. These are a useful industrial materials. Sulfuric acid is usually prepared as the acid precursor oleum, a byproduct of sulfur removal from fuels.
Bulk tar.
Asphalt
Petroleum coke, used in speciality carbon products or as solid fuel.
Paraffin wax
Aromatic petrochemicals to be used as precursors in other chemical production.
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