From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpetroleumpe‧tro‧le‧um /pəˈtrəʊliəm $ -ˈtroʊ-/ noun [uncountable] HEGoil that is obtained from below the surface of the Earth and is used to make petrol, paraffin, and various chemical substances petroleum-based products
Examples from the Corpus
petroleum• petroleum-based plastic• A petroleum engineer with 3 5 years of international experience.• Huge industrial sectors built up in the 70s and 80s-including petroleum, telecommunications and automobiles-will be especially vulnerable.• The gap between low cost and high value makes petroleum a highly political resource.• Suprex has introduced the Aromatic Analyser which determines the aromatic content of petroleum fuels.• For distillation, refining or other processing of petroleum or petroleum products 3.• Plastic-producing petroleum is a finite resource.• Local oil companies want a 10 percent tariff on refined petroleum products and 3 percent duty for imported crude oil.• Repsol is a bigger refiner than producer, and buys up to 75 percent of the petroleum it uses.Origin petroleum (1500-1600) Medieval Latin petroleum, from Latin petr- (from Greek petra “rock”) + oleum ( → OIL1) 