11 Facts About Oil

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Oil rigs
  1. Petroleum (a.k.a. oil) actually isn’t measured in gallons or liters, rather in barrels (bbl). One bbl equals around 42 gallons or 159 liters.
  2. The U.S. has the 11th largest oil reserve in the world. Saudi Arabia has the largest, with 264 billion barrels of oil compared to USA’s 21 billion.
  3. America consumes more oil than any other country—20 million barrels daily.
  4. 45% of crude oil is comprised of gasoline.
  5. Petroleum was used to produce the device you are reading on, right now. If it’s a tablet, computer, or phone, petroleum was used to create it.
  6. Oil isn't just used for gasoline in cars. It powers the industries and machines that make things like:
    • clothes
    • sports balls
    • medicines
    • make-up
    • furniture
    • refrigerators
  7. Petroleum oil nicknames include “Texas Tea” and “Black Gold."
  8. To drill oil from the ground, engineers first create a tunnel, and use pipes to push oil forward, and eventually, the oil erupts through the tunnel and pipe(s).
  9. The U.S. has experienced 25+ oil spills (land or sea) in the past 10 years. That’s over 2 every year.
  10. Oil has been used for over 5,000 years. Ancient Babylonians and Sumerians used crude oil.
  11. Texas has the largest oil reserve in the U.S. In fact, the state is responsible for one-fifth of all of the oil America produces.

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