A Barrel of Oil: What It Means to You Todays standard barrel of crude oil contains approximately 42 gallons.

The world produces more than 85 million barrels a day at a price averaging around $100 per barrel. What is barrel of oil really worth? To answer this question lets consider a few of the things one barrel of oil can accomplish. Everyday our automobiles are utilizing gasoline to get us where were going. With many automobile companies working to increase gas mileage in an effort to improve fuel economy, our cars can travel further than ever on just one barrel of oil. If an entire 42 gallon barrel were to be converted into gasoline, a Ford F150 could travel 756 miles. A BMW X5 with a 23 highway mpg would be capable of traveling 966 miles on one barrel. And if that isnt impressive enough, the 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid can travel a whopping 1,806 miles on 42 gallons. Obviously, automobiles are not our only means of transportation. Consider turning one barrel of crude oil into jet fuel. The Boeing-747 is a commercial aircraft which uses 5 gallons per mile and can carry well over 500 passengers. Therefore, a flight consisting of just 500 passengers is using .01 gallons per passenger, or 100 mpg per person. At this gas mileage, each person will fly 4,200 miles on one barrel of petroleum. To put this into perspective, an individual could travel from San Francisco to Chicago and back on just one barrel. Trucks, trains, and planes transport commodities across the country at remarkable volumes. In the United States, 70 percent of freight is transported by 18-wheel trucks, $671 billion worth of goods transported annually. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the average fuel economy of an 18-wheeler is 5.1 mpg of diesel. These trucks can carry up to 80,000 pounds of shipment 214.2 miles on just one barrel. A single freight train can take on the load of over 280 18-wheel rigs, and each car is capable of holding up to one hundred tons (200,000 pounds) of cargo. In 2011, a freight train moving one metric ton of cargo averaged 469 miles per gallon of fuel. On one barrel of oil, a freight train could transport one ton of goods 19,698 miles. With capabilities of carrying hundreds of tons, it is not difficult to comprehend why railroads are still a utilized means of shipping. While the transportation capabilities of a $100 barrel may sufficiently justify the cost, oil is not limited to simply fueling cars, planes, and trains. Oil has been the worlds leading source of energy since the 1950s. The energy that a certain amount of petroleum can produce is measured in British Thermal Units (BTU). One barrel of oil contains an average of 5.8 million BTU, of which 75 is enough to boil one cup of water. With a full barrel we could boil 4,833 gallons of water. Oil is used to heat over ten million homes in the United States. According to the National Oilheat Research Alliance, one gallon of oil generates 138,000 BTU. To heat a 12 x 14 space (assuming 8 ceilings), the energy required would be approximately 3,200 BTU per hour. With an entire barrel of oil, the space could be heated for 75 consecutive days.

A horse laboring a standard 40-hour work week (8 hours a day, five days a week, 50 weeks a year) would have to work for over a year in order to produce the amount of energy one barrel of oil contains. For a human to produce this amount of energy, over ten years of labor would be necessary. Think about the amount of energy used to power a large facility such as a hospital. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, hospitals use 836 trillion BTUs of energy annually. That is approximately 2.2BTU per day, which would equate to 379 barrels. With 5,754 registered hospitals in the U.S., each hospital would use approximately .066 barrels a day. As the population increases, so does the worlds demand for oil. Despite predictions of oil depletion, petroleum remains the worlds number one source of energy. Crude oil is a critical component for economic development and ensures the smooth functioning of almost every aspect of society. Oil is the basis of most transport systems and future dependence on petroleum is only going to increase.