What are the basics of oil and gas exploration and production?

Oil and gas are useful because they pack a huge wallop of energy in a small volume. Just think, you can move a car that weighs 3,000 lbs hundreds of miles on only a few gallons of gasoline. It's very practical stuff. Oil and gas are commonly produced by first shooting seismic waves into the earth, which bounce back to the surface. Computer yze these waves and produce a picture of the rock layers under your feet. Oil likes to collect in areas that form humps or ridges in the layers. When geologist find a place that looks good, you can drill down to that area and get to the oil/gas. The oil and gas come to the surface because of the shear weigh of the Earth pushing down on the reservoir, expelling it up and out of the hole.