<P> The Age of Oil, also known as the Oil Age or the Petroleum Age, refers to the era in human history characterised by an increased use of petroleum in products and as fuel . Though unrefined petroleum has been used for various purposes since ancient times, it was during the 19th century that refinement techniques were developed and gasoline engines were created . </P> <P> Although crude petroleum oil has been used for a variety of purposes for thousands of years, the Oil Age is considered to have started in the 1800s with the advance of drilling techniques, as well as the processing of products made use in internal combustion engines . Alternatively, the age of oil can be placed in the first period until the early 1900s, when oil consumption and combustion engines utilization increased . Contemporary industrial society is built largely on petroleum resources, but the future of the Oil Age has become increasingly controversial . </P>

What are the characteristics of the age of oil