What Is an Oil Refinery? An oil refinery is an industrial plant that transforms, or refines crude oil into various usable petroleum products such as diesel, gasoline, and heating oils like kerosene. Oil refineries essentially serve as the second stage in the crude oil production process following the actual extraction of crude oil up-stream, and
The World’s Largest Oil Reserves By Country Rank Country Oil Reserves (in billions of barrels) 1 Venezuela 303.8 2 Saudi Arabia 297.5 3 Canada 168.1 4 Iran 157.8 5 Iraq 145 6 Russia 107.8 7 Kuwait 101.5 8 United Arab Emirates 97.8 9 United States 68.8 10 Libya 48.4 Source: BP, plc. The Organization of
What Are Oil Sands? Oil sands, or tar sands, are sand and rock material that contain crude bitumen—a dense, viscous form of crude oil. Bitumen is too thick to flow on its own, so extraction methods are necessary. Bitumen is extracted and processed using two methods: mining and in-situ recovery. Oil sands are found primarily in
What Is the Old Lady? The “Old Lady” is an eighteenth-century nickname for the Bank of England. It is a short version of the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, a reference to the bank’s address in the middle of London. Key Takeaways The Old Lady, or the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, is a colloquial
What Is the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund? The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund (OASI) is a U.S. Treasury account holding the tax receipts that fund Social Security benefits paid to retired workers, their surviving spouses, and eligible children. The fund is managed by the Social Security Administration (SSA), which has the
What Is Old Economy? Old economy is a term used to describe the blue-chip sector that enjoyed substantial growth during the early parts of the last century as industrialization expanded around the world. These sectors do not rely heavily on technology or technological advancement, but use processes that have been around for hundreds of years. Even with
Oligopsony: An Overview An oligopsony is a market for a product or service which is dominated by a few large buyers. The concentration of demand in just a few parties gives each substantial power over the sellers and can effectively keep prices down. The opposite effect can be seen in an oligopoly. It is a
Oliver Williamson (1932 to 2020) was a U.S. economist, Nobel Prize laureate, and academic, best known as one of the leaders of New Institutional Economics (NIE) and the founder of Transaction Cost Economics (TCE), novel economic frameworks that moved traditional theory beyond an exclusive focus on markets and price theory—and permanently changed how economists, governments
What Is an Ombudsman? An ombudsman is an official, usually appointed by the government, who investigates complaints (usually lodged by private citizens) against businesses, financial institutions, universities, government departments, or other public entities, and attempts to resolve the conflicts or concerns raised, either by mediation or by making recommendations. Ombudsmen may be called by different
What Is an Order Management System (OMS)? An order management system (OMS) is an electronic system developed to execute securities orders in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Brokers and dealers use an OMS when filling orders for various types of securities and can track the progress of each order throughout the system. An OMS in
