- 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.
- 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.
- America consumes more oil than any other country—20 million barrels daily.
- 45% of crude oil is comprised of gasoline.
- 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.
- 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
- Petroleum oil nicknames include “Texas Tea” and “Black Gold."
- 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).
- The U.S. has experienced 25+ oil spills (land or sea) in the past 10 years. That’s over 2 every year.
- Oil has been used for over 5,000 years. Ancient Babylonians and Sumerians used crude oil.
- 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.