Many products can be obtained from oil, ranging from some of the most common fuels (petrol, gas-oil and other by-products of oil) to many of the plastic materials used by mankind. The simple hydrocarbons that compose oil are, in fact, the main raw materials needed to produce plastic materials with specific features: resilience, plasticity, hardness, flexibility, biodegradability, sturdiness, adherence, water-proof characteristics, malleability, etc.
The four most commonly used hydrocarbons are ethylene, propylene, butadiene and benzene. Their molecules make them particularly suitable for composing long organized chains. The complex nature of petrochemical substances is reconstructed through numerous passages and different production processes to achieve a very wide range of products.