Oil and Protecting The Environment Protecting the environment while producing, transporting, refining and marketing fuel is a challenge the petroleum industry must meet every day. For all of the benefits oil has brought to modern society, risk is inherent in taking it from the Earth -- in drilling wells, storing fuel for future use and transporting it from place to place. API member companies try their hardest every day to minimize these risks. Oil is a natural substance -- the beneficial uses of oil were discovered when natural seeps were found to have amazing uses. Called "burning springs," native Americans would skim oil from the surface of these magic streams