How to Use petroleum in a Sentence

petroleum

noun
  • There are places in the world where petroleum bubbles freely up from the Earth.
    Ian Rose, JSTOR Daily, 23 July 2025
  • The price of steel, used in bridges, has risen the most, but so have the prices of dirt, gravel and asphalt, which is petroleum-based.
    John Tuohy, The Indianapolis Star, 30 June 2022
  • The shale boom transformed the U.S. from a net importer to a net exporter of petroleum and gas.
    Christopher M. Matthews, WSJ, 30 July 2022
  • Oil could be the big save, as the U.S. relies on the two countries for over half of its petroleum imports.
    Francisco Velasquez, Quartz, 3 Feb. 2025
  • This laundry stick looks like a bar of soap and is free of petroleum, phosphates, parabens, and dyes.
    Brandi Fuller, Better Homes & Gardens, 8 June 2023
  • The type of plastic used also affects the amount of petroleum used.
    Discover Magazine, 9 Dec. 2023
  • This is the third time Biden has turned to the strategic petroleum reserve in a little over four months.
    David Koenig and Cathy Bussewitz, Chron, 31 Mar. 2022
  • The petroleum business is an odd one, with strange cycles of boom and bust.
    Erik Sherman, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2025
  • More than half of what the U.S. buys from Russia are petroleum crude and oil products.
    Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2022
  • The Navy hasn’t determined how the petroleum got in the water.
    NBC News, 8 Mar. 2022
  • In the 1870s, biomass gave way to the first fossil fuels: coal and, to a lesser extent, petroleum.
    Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 8 Dec. 2020
  • This would be the third time Biden has had to tap into the strategic petroleum reserve.
    Justin Gomez, ABC News, 31 Mar. 2022
  • It’s made from petroleum and was approved for foods in 1907.
    Anna Halkidis, Parents, 15 Jan. 2025
  • As with petroleum, rising home prices are the result of a lack of supply.
    Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 30 July 2021
  • The Navy last week said a water sample from one of its wells showed the presence of petroleum products.
    CBS News, 6 Dec. 2021
  • Traders figure that there is enough petroleum on hand around the world to deal with any supply problems.
    Stanley Reed, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2024
  • Polypropylene is a type of plastic that comes from petroleum, which may lead to some concerns about its safety in the home.
    Alida Nugent, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Feb. 2024
  • As the article notes, 40% of our corn is made into the ethanol that is mixed with petroleum fuels.
    Star Tribune, 22 July 2021
  • Companies have been promising to get rid of the petroleum dyes for years.
    Deidre McPhillips, CNN Money, 21 Apr. 2025
  • Russia would have less leverage over the rest of the world, and the White House wouldn't have to go hat in hand to monarchies whose rule is propped up by their petroleum reserves.
    Joel Mathis, The Week, 11 Mar. 2022
  • Venezuela, once a major exporter to the United States, has the world’s largest petroleum reserves.
    New York Times, 5 June 2022
  • Most candles sold in the United States are made from paraffin wax, which is a byproduct of petroleum.
    Stephanie Brown, Verywell Health, 5 Oct. 2023
  • The Glenn Pool Oil Field would be one of the nation’s most bountiful producers of petroleum for years to come.
    Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Mar. 2021
  • That can do quite a bit of damage to anything that would be a carbon base, or that petroleum texture.
    Hannah K. Sparling, The Enquirer, 17 Nov. 2020
  • But part of the answer is to be able to create petroleum without adding CO2 to the environment.
    Fortune Editors, Fortune, 5 Apr. 2023
  • But the European Union is a big market for U.S. exports of oil, petroleum gas and cars.
    Ken Roberts, Forbes.com, 27 July 2025
  • Still, no one can blame Dunn for the current petroleum shortage.
    Christopher Helman, Forbes, 18 Aug. 2022
  • While many coatings are petroleum-based, Shel-life is plant-based.
    Shayna Harris, Forbes, 16 Sep. 2021
  • Roughly $53 billion worth of that was petroleum oils and crude oil.
    Lauren Kent, CNN Money, 14 Aug. 2025
  • Chris is a former employee of a petroleum company in Colorado who was convicted in 2018 of murdering his wife and two children.
    Liam Quinn, People.com, 13 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'petroleum.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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