Petroleum, also referred to colloquially as oil, was a type of fossil fuel used on Earth during the 20th and 21st centuries. It was extracted via oil wells. (ENT: "Storm Front, Part II")
In Earth's 20th century refined petroleum, also known as gasoline, was the fuel source for internal combustion engines that powered automobiles like the 1936 Ford truck found by the USS Voyager. (VOY: "The 37's") The use of petroleum and other fossil fuels ended in 2061. (ENT: "Carpenter Street")
When Shannon O'Donnel's Ford LTD Country Squire stranded her in Portage Creek, Indiana, in December 2000, it was eventually fixed after getting its oil pan replaced. (VOY: "11:59")
During a trip back in time to Detroit in 2004, Jonathan Archer told T'Pol that Humans had known since the 1970s that Earth's fossil fuel supply was limited. He began to tell her about a noteworthy event in 2061 related to this issue, but his explanation was interrupted by their mission. (ENT: "Carpenter Street")
Admiral Dougherty recalled to Captain Jean-Luc Picard the fact that on Earth, "petroleum once turned petty thugs into world leaders," in response to Picard's view of the Son'a's position in relocating the Ba'ku. (Star Trek: Insurrection)
In a 2364 alternate timeline, Captain Jean-Luc Picard ordered Miles O'Brien to bypass the secondary plasma inducer, which required O'Brien had to realign the entire power grid, stating "we're all going to be burning the midnight oil on this one." Data, who overheard O'Brien, told him that that would be inadvisable because any "attempt to ignite a petroleum product on this ship at 0:00 hours [would] activate the fire suppression system." (TNG: "All Good Things...")
External links[]
- Petroleum at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- Petroleum at Wikipedia