11–20 of 72 posts
Why is bbl the abbreviation for "barrel"? Ahh, wikipedia knows: The "b" may have been doubled originally to indicate the plural (1 bl, 2 bbl), or possibly it was doubled to eliminate any confusion with bl as a symbol for the bale. Some sources claim that "bbl" originated as a symbol for "blue barrels" delivered by Standard Oil in its early days; this is probably incorrect because there are citations for the symbol at…
Why is bbl the abbreviation for "barrel"? Ahh, wikipedia knows: The "b" may have been doubled originally to indicate the plural (1 bl, 2 bbl), or possibly it was doubled to eliminate any confusion with bl as a symbol for the bale. Some sources claim that "bbl" originated as a symbol for "blue barrels" delivered by Standard Oil in its early days; this is probably incorrect because there are citations for the symbol at…
Quote:
In the early 1860's, when oil production began, there was no standard container for oil, so oil and petroleum products were stored and transported in barrels of all different shapes and sizes (beer barrels, fish barrels, molasses barrels, turpentine barrels, etc.). By the early 1870's, the 42-gallon barrel had been adopted as the standard for oil trade. This was 2 gallons per barrel more than the 40-gallon standard used by many other industries at the time. The extra 2 gallons was to allow for evaporation and leaking during tranport (most barrels were made of wood). Standard Oil began manufacturing 42 gallon barrels that were blue to be used for transporting petroleum. The use of a blue barrel, abbreviated "bbl," guaranteed a buyer that this was a 42-gallon barrel.
It's more basic even than this. Market demand for oil collapses (read: recession) long before it gets anywhere close to $500/bbl.
> Market demand for oil collapses (read: recession) long before it gets anywhere close to $500/bbl. Above $80 a barrel, alternative fuels (such as liquid fuels from coal) becomes profitable. I sincerely expect that this will expand extremely rapidly in the next 15 years.
I got pretty into peak oil circa 2006, when peak was supposedly already occurring or was going to occur by 2008. It will happen eventually, but I'm not going to get into playing this guessing game again.
Why is bbl the abbreviation for "barrel"? Ahh, wikipedia knows: The "b" may have been doubled originally to indicate the plural (1 bl, 2 bbl), or possibly it was doubled to eliminate any confusion with bl as a symbol for the bale. Some sources claim that "bbl" originated as a symbol for "blue barrels" delivered by Standard Oil in its early days; this is probably incorrect because there are citations for the symbol at…
http://seekingalpha.com/article/18636-where-does-that-2nd-b-... Quote: In the early 1860's, when oil production began, there was no standard container for oil, so oil and petroleum products were stored and transported in barrels of all different shapes and sizes (beer barrels, fish barrels, molasses barrels, turpentine barrels, etc.). By the early 1870's, the 42-gallon barrel had been adopted as the standard for oil…
EDIT: This will be difficult, as it is quite easy to find citations for "bbl oil" from before 1850 using google books, the first I found was on p. 239 of a book called "Railway engines and cars" from 1832. So the blue barrel legend can be firmly laid to rest in peas.
I got pretty into peak oil circa 2006, when peak was supposedly already occurring or was going to occur by 2008. It will happen eventually, but I'm not going to get into playing this guessing game again.
No need to guess. Oil production has been flat around 85 million barrels a day for the past four years.
The author expects "government intervention of some kind to occur before prices get much above $200/bbl."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No need to guess. Oil production has been flat around 85 million barrels a day for the past four years.
Demand has been lower due to the global recession -- there is no indication that oil production can't go higher than ever before, once demand starts picking back up.
The history shows us that price controls never worked. NEVER.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Demand has been lower due to the global recession -- there is no indication that oil production can't go higher than ever before, once demand starts picking back up.
And what do you think triggered the global recession, if not an oil price that spiked to an economy-busting $147/bbl in the two years after production peaked at 85 mbpd?