Abstract: The subject invention relates to method and apparatus for controlling or manipulating a body of crude, refined, or used petroleum as, for example: in the herding and recovery of an oil spill in a body of water; in temporarily stopping a leak in an oil tanker caused by a cracked hull; in recovering oil inadvertantly spilled on a beach front; in plugging an oil casing pipe to control an oil fire at sea on a drilling platform; in effecting preliminary refinement of oil at the oil rig site; in transporting oil from the Arctic or Antarctic region without resorting to complicated and costly apparatus; and in many other applications. The method basically comprises exposing a body of crude, refined, or used petroleum mass either to a transient atmosphere or environment of a freezing, sub-freezing, or cryogenics temperature, or contacting the petroleum with a substance or mechanism exhibiting freezing, sub-freezing, or cryogenics temperatures.