To answer your first question, who, I think the answer is API. As Stan said, the barrel is ALWAYS used for crude oil here, even though a physical barrel was never used. API is about as non-metric as Boeing (or NASA and its contractors, or FMI). What is odd is that foreign-owned oil companies seem completely willing to play the barrels game too. The B in BP is British, the "Royal Dutch" is silent in Shell, etc. Most of "our" oil companies are substantially or entirely foreign-owned. I think they prefer not to call attention to that and make no effort to push metric. The API is now as association of un-American oil companies :)
Obviously, they never knew how much oil they were blowing. The initial estimate was 1000 bbl/day, then 5000, now I have seen over 10000. How do you convert a number that has NO significant figures? Since there is no good answer, you dutifully multiply the defective number of the day by 42 (US gallons per bbl) for US audiences, and 159 (liters/bbl) or thereabouts for metric audiences, and ignore the fact that none of the numbers has the slighestest validity. Unfortunately, both actions create the illusion of more precision when there is actually no precision at all. The real question is what is the cross-section area of the leak, and what is the average velocity of the oil jet across that section. The data appears not to exist or also has zero precision. (of course, the ragged, broken pipe is not a very good flow nozzle design for calibrated measurements.) Gas prices vary day to day and with location. In Detroit area, I think we are paying around $2.759/US gallon for regular, but I won't know until I go out this morning. A barrel of crude doesn't produce 42 gallons of gasoline. Because it is "cracked" into lighter molecules, a 42 gallon barrel produces around 45 gallons total of finished products, perhaps half gasoline, and a mixture of jet fuel, diesel, heavy fuel oils, tar for paving etc. The other finished products tend to have lower value per unit than the gasoline. ________________________________ From: Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Cc: USMA Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, June 7, 2010 6:25:17 AM Subject: [USMA:47531] Re: Who is the down dumber? Thanks Stan, I will mull on your information from the USA. By the way, what its the normal range of prices for gas (petrol) in the USA currently? Right now the crude oil price is $70.53 USD per mythical barrel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrel_(volume)#Oil_barrel ), and the non-existent barrel is about 1.589 873 E-01 according to Barry Taylor at NIST, see http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/appenB8.html#B which gives a current crude oil price as $1.68 per gallon (USA). Please excuse me if my calculations are a bit wobbly – I don't have local knowledge – I have not been to the USA for a few years. Cheers, Pat Naughtin Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, that you can obtain from http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/ to subscribe. On 2010/06/07, at 19:56 , Stan Doore wrote: Hi Pat: > It's the media here in the US. > The larger number (gallons) is used to give the public a false impression >because the public doesn't understand and can't compare easily. >Barrels normally has been used as the unit in reporting oil in virtually all >other circumstances relating to bulk oil except at the gas pump. The media >doesn't want people to understand the relationships. Media purpose is to >confuse the public. > Cubic metres should be the uniform reporting unit worldwide. Litres is >used to sell most soft drinks and all liquor here in the US. The metre is >closely related to the yard which people in the US are very familiar. > 1000 L = 1 cubic metre is very simple and understandable. It's much >easier to visualize volume too. >Regards, Stan Doore > >----- Original Message ----- >>From: Pat Naughtin >>To: U.S. Metric Association >>Sent: Monday, June 07, 2010 1:15 AM >>Subject: [USMA:47526] Who is the down dumber? >> >> >>On 2010/06/06, at 02:59 , Stan Doore wrote: >> >>Contrast the above reporting with reporting the Gulf oil spill in gallons for >>the first few weeks of the spill and now reporting a combination of gallons >>and barrels of oil spilled. No use of metric (cubic meters) of oil spilled >>is being used. >> >>Dear Stan, >> >> >>Who is the person who dumbs down these figures? Where is this person? And why >>do they do it? >> >> >>As you know gallons are not a good unit to measure amounts of oil because the >>amount (measured as its mass in kilograms or tonnes) of oil varies according >>to the nature of the oil ('West Texas' vs 'Mexican' for example) and the >>current temperature wherever the oil happens to be at any given time. >> >> >>Obviously the unit that buyers and sellers of oil use is not the same as the >>unit used to report to the public. It follows that someone, somewhere, has to >>alter – dumb down – all oil numbers for the general public. >> >> >>Barrels of oil of course are a different matter because a barrel for oil has >>never actually existed. This creates some odd situations. Here are two of >>them that I have noticed today: >> >> >>1A few weeks ago it was reported that the BP oil leak was emitting 5000 >>barrels per day. Now the cap placed over the oil leak it is reported as >>stopping almost all of the oil by stopping 10 000 barrels per day. Maybe, >>like the lords and ladies in France before the introduction of the metric >>system, the oil companies are using barrels with a variable size according to >>the circumstances when they make their report. >> >> >>2This morning the world oil price indicator was quoted as about $70 per >>barrel. This translates to about 53 cents per litre in Australia while petrol >>(gas) is selling at about $1.25 per litre. If people knew these figures they >>might be tempted to ask, 'Where did the other 72 cents go?' >> >> >>Again I ask, 'Who is the person who dumbs down these figures? Where is this >>person? And why do they do it?' >> >> >>Cheers, >>Pat Naughtin >>Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, that you can obtain >>from http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html >>PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, >>Geelong, Australia >>Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 >> >> >>Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped >>thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric >>system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands >>each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat >>provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and >>professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in >>Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian >>Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the >>UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com for more metrication >>information, contact Pat at [email protected] or to get the >>free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go >>to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe. >> >
