plugabugs, petroleum is oil. Oil is the slang name for petroleum, that is to say there are many types of oils, their all flammable, and oily, but petrolium is the one that comes from the ground and is used as fuel. Petrochemicals like gasoline, diesel, and karosine are made from petroleum.
There is a valid reason to go to Mars. The Earth is reaching its limit for human population. Mars is the most habitable place, basically the new Americas. Venus is just as habitable, its just that scientists are a bunch of pussyfooting wimps who are to afraid to get dirty and conquer the planet. They'd rather do all this useless scientific research like search for life in little clumps of dirt when they ought to launch missiles onto the planet filled with algae and bacteria.
Heres how id make venus habitable. I'd launch nuclear missiles on one side of the planet where we know there are huge mountains and i'd obliterate those mountains into dust. The dust would obscure the planets atmosphere so much that within 8 months there would be a nuclear winter. 2 years later the dust would die down, in the best climate places we could launch a tirade of missiles filled with bacteria. Within 10 years the bacteria will totally control the climate and at thta point we can send flaura and fauna there. Probably insects and plants. After i'm guessing 14 years the planet will totally be habitable by humans.
more after class!