The Department of Energy Web site Fossil Fuels is billed as an energy education site mainly for older kids, but can be enjoyed by adult kids as well. The site gives an introduction to energy, and then a more detailed look at the acquisition and uses of coal, oil, and gas. The good descriptions, illustrations, and animations, along with the frequent questions page and glossary of related terms,...

The first site, offered by the Institute of Petroleum, is called Fossils into Fuel (1). It describes how oil and gas are formed and processed, as well as offering short quizzes on each section. The second site (2) is maintained by the Department of Energy. Visitors can learn about the history of oil use, how it’s found and extracted, and more. The next site, called Picture an Oil Well (3), is a...

Presented by National Public Radio's All Things Considered, the special report Oil and Dependence examines America's continued reliance on foreign oil. The articles discuss the global oil market, the domestic supply, and whether the US can move towards increasing energy conservation and less foreign oil dependence. Included are audio files of Christopher Joyce's reports, illustrations,...

A recent USGS open file report entitled Ranking of the World's Oil and Gas Provinces by Known Petroleum Volumes groups the worlds 937 geologic provinces into eight regions by known petroleum volumes of field. This site succintly describes the ranking methods used and results of the study. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Middle East and North Africa was found to contain nearly twice as many billions...