Jim Hardie Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Our American cousins are deeply conservative when it comes to weights and measures. For instance their gallon is a Queen Anne wine gallon which is the volume of a six inch high, seven inch diameter cylinder. It comes out at exactly 231 cubic inches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert_Baehr Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Given that the Imperial gallon was adopted in 1824, is it so surprising that the Americans used - as their gallon - the measure which so many of the early immigrants were familiar with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southcoast Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Dont worry as its going to be 150 a barrel soon enough,especially when the Israelis decide to attack Iran and we and the US will get dragged into it,then watch the price soar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nagel Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 A barrel is 42 US gallons, 35 Imperial (British) gallons. A barrel contains 136.275 litres. The cost of a barrel of Brent crude oil today is $120. So a litre is $120/136 = $0.88 Or 56p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vague_Boy Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Can someone tell me what the hell that means to the average person on the street ? Pretty straightforward really, $200 a barrel oil is more expensive that $100 a barrel oil. We don't exactly buy our oil in huge barrels Do you buy crude oil? Most people buy petrol. Crude oil varies greatly in appearance depending on its composition. It is usually black or dark brown (although it may be yellowish, reddish, or even greenish). In the reservoir it is usually found in association with natural gas, which being lighter forms a gas cap over the petroleum, and saline water which, being heavier than most forms of crude oil, generally sinks beneath it. Crude oil may also be found in semi-solid form mixed with sand and water, as in the Athabasca oil sands in Canada, where it is usually referred to as crude bitumen. US oil refineries have a capacity of 17.9 million barrels a day. Do you really think they should switch to using litres? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Graham Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Anyway, the upshot of all this is that if the oil price falls to between $20-30 a barrel again then the economy might be able to grow again without us needing to make any changes to our infrastructure. If however, the price remains at between $60-90 then we'll have to take a serious look at our economy's dependence upon oil. If the price continues to rise then we've already hit global peak oil and it will be too late to make effective changes, we'll just have to cope with the outcome of a world with declining oil and hope that the decline is more gradual than quick. If the likes of China, India and Brazil keep growing the world demand for oil will only rise. Imagine 1bn Chinese wanting petrol for their cars. If demand goes up and supply stays the same the price will only go up. If supply drops due to instability in the supplying countries the price will go up sharply. It's hard to see the price ever going down again. Oil not only makes fuel but plastics and just about everything else. Here's a good fact sheet http://www.ranken-energy.com/Products%20from%20Petroleum.htm So, basically, if the price of oil goes up so does the price of just about everything else. That pretty much explains why we have inflation that is out of our ability to control. Most of the price of petrol at the pump is tax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southcoast Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Of course as been said most of the price is tax,still demand will exceed supply before long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFKvsNixon Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 The strength of the Pound against the Dollar will also influence price, as oil is bought and sold in Dollars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnvqsos Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 That depends where you live. In Jan 2007, I was living in Mississippi. At that time, 1 US gallon of petrol (roughly 4 litres) cost $1.60. During 2007, oil prices rose sharply and - because tax represents a relatively small portion of the pump price in the US - pump prices rose dramatically - to about $3.40 a gallon. Small businesses - many of which didn't make large profits - saw their operating costs increase dramatically and some closed as a result. Prices rose in Europe too, but because tax represents a considerably larger proportion of the pump price, the price rises - as a percentage - were somewhat lower. If (or when) oil reaches $300-$400 a barrel, then airlines, shipping companies, agriculture and other industries which use oil (but which don't pay much tax on it) are likely to see significant cost increases and those increases will be passed on to their customers. If European governments freeze the tax (in numerical terms)(but they probably won't!) then the price increases on road fuels will be smaller as a percentage of pump prices - though they will still be significant. I suspect that Air Fares (and probably Ferry fares) this year will be higher than they were last year. Airport taxes, security charges and departure taxes now make up a significant amount of the cost of an air ticket - which may reduce the effect of oil price rises (slightly), but - from the quotes I've received recently - transatlantic travel costs this year are significantly higher than they were last year. Yes but as this is SF I was not addressing residents of Baton Rouge,the Bayou or Montgomery Al.Any chance of a stateside forum I can use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norseman Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 That depends where you live. In Jan 2007, I was living in Mississippi. At that time, 1 US gallon of petrol (roughly 4 litres) cost $1.60. I was in Vancouver, Canada in 2002-2003 and the price was 29-39 cents a litre which at the time was around 12p - 17p a litre. You could get a full tank for literally £10-£12. However now its is considerably more and they are definitely feeling the pinch just like us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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