barrel

Why is oil measured by the barrel?

In the mid 19Th century, during the early days of the modern industry, crude oil was transported in barrels and that reference of measurement has stuck.

In the U.S. Explorers found more oil than they thought possible. Being overwhelmed with the huge quantities gushing from their new wells, they had to find some way of storing and transporting it. There were companies already making wooden barrels for the whiskey industry and these same barrels were used for oil. Such was the demand for barrels for the oil industry, manufacturers made machines to speed up the process.

World oil consumption is nearly 3 Billion barrels a month.

Today we use so much that it is not economical to transport crude oil in barrels. Pipelines and tanker ships deliver billions of barrels of oil every year.

A Barrel of crude oil is 42 USA gallons or about 159 litres.

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