Oil is one of those things that everybody needs and very few people have. It is a dwindling resource in the grand scheme of things. And that is why you have probably heard all over the news the different stories about peak oil and about how the constant search for oil causes governments to do some pretty crazy things. Although some of these stories can be a bit conspiratorial, there is certainly truth to the fact that oil is a critical resource and governments know that. And as history can so clearly show us, wars are fought over critical resources all the time. In fact, almost every single war in history boiled down to being a conflict over resources, whether those resources were land and people or things like coastlines and sources of food. These days are no different. The world is still shaped by its pursuit of limited supplies. Don’t get us wrong though, oil is not a bad thing. Ever since the dawn of civilization people have used oil in various ways. It has played a significant role in creating the society that we have today. These are 25 things you probably didn’t know about gas and oil.
25
Thomas Midgley, a chemist, was responsible for the idea of including lead in gasoline to prevent knocking in engines. Some say this discovery is single-handedly responsible for more environmental damage than anything else in the world.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 24
The price of gasoline in the US is half the price of gasoline in the EU.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 23
During World War I, planes used Castor Oil as engine lubricant. Because of un-burnt Castor Oil coming out of the exhaust, pilots often suffered diarrhea.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 22
America gets more of its oil from Canada and Mexico than it gets from the entire Middle East combined.
Source: environmentaltrends.org, Image: wikipedia 21
Statoil, a Norwegian oil company, sold one of their platforms with the following message - "Well kept 20 bedroom platform for sale. Panorama sea view and plenty of room for a helicopter."
Source: statoil.com, Image: wikipedia Lists Going Viral Right Now
20
In Turkmenistan, every driver gets 120 free liters of gasoline per month.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 19
An average salary for an oil rig worker was about 100,000 USD in 2011.
Source: money.cnn.com, Image: pixabay 18
Beverly Hills High School in California has 19 oil wells on its campus. They earn the school about 300,000 USD per year.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 17
Diesel engines are named after their inventor and not the fuel. In fact, one of the first fuels that diesel engines were designed to run on was peanut oil!
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 16
During the 1800s, gasoline was so worthless that refineries would just throw it away.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 15
The United States accounts for nearly half of the world's oil consumption.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 14
Russia produces nearly 1 million more barrels of oil than Saudi Arabia every day.
Source: bloomberg.com, Image: wikipedia 13
In 2010, a London broker named Steve Perkins got drunk and accidentally bought over 500 million USD worth of oil. He singlehandedly managed to push the global price of oil to an 8 month high.
Source: telegraph.co.uk, Image: wikipedia 12
According to the World Health Organization, diesel fuel is more carcinogenic than cigarettes.
Source: nytimes, Image: pixabay 11
Norway has some of the world's highest gas prices. This is because they don't subsidize them but rather use the funds to provide free education and improve infrastructure.
Source: haaretz.com, Image: wikipedia 10
Even if all corn and soybean production in the US was focused at producing biofuel it would only meet about 10% of the fuel demand.
Source: wikipedia, Image: freestockphotos.biz 9
The USS Arizona has been leaking oil ever since it sank in Pearl Harbor during the attack in 1941.
Source: pearlharborinhawaii.com, Image: wikipedia 8
Although the US spent nearly $700 billion in Iraq, all the oil contracts were taken by other nations. In what came as a surprise to many people, America was just about the only nation that didn't benefit from Iraq's oil reserves.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 7
One liter of gasoline takes more than 23 tons of (long buried) plant material to produce.
Source: theguardian.com, Image: wikipedia 6
An oil pipeline in Ecuador has leaked more oil into the Amazon rainforest than the Exxon Valdez oil spill leaked into the water around Alaska.
Source: hubbertpeak.com, Image: wikipedia 5
Because Australia was having a problem with indigenous people sniffing gasoline to get high, they began to use Opal fuel (non-sniffable fuel) in remote areas.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 4
Drilling oil involves cutting a whole into the Earth and pumping air into it. Once the oil is hit it rushes to the surface and shoots into the sky.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 3
In the past 25 years there have been nearly two dozen oil spills in the US alone.
Source: U.S. News & World Report, Image: wikipedia 2
Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world with nearly 300 billion barrels. The US is 10th with 33 billion barrels.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia 1
Oil has always been important to civilization. Ancient cultures used it to bind materials and also as a waterproofing sealant.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia SEE ALSO: 25 Harry Potter Facts That Will Knock You Off Your Broomstick »
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