Dear Jim,
The thing about it is that once you use the prices based on same SI
unit you can then begin to discuss the questions you raise. Before
that few would go to the trouble of converting the mythical barrel
into some sort of reality to make these price comparisons.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see
http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html
Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY
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.
On 2010/06/08, at 03:38 , James R. Frysinger wrote:
Not all of the material in a barrel of crude oil is used for
manufacturing gasoline. Only a certain range of distillate fractions
can be cracked to make gasoline (petrol). The same can be said for
heating oil (essentially diesel fuel) and those two ranges of
fractions overlap. Thus, more gasoline from a barrel means less
heating oil from that barrel, and vice versa. The other fractions
probably sell for less than the price of gasoline.
So, part of that 72 cents goes to distill the crude, to crack the
selected fractions, to store and distribute the product, and of
course to tax it. What is left is profit.
Jim
Pat Naughtin wrote:
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:
1 A 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.
2 This 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 <http://www.metricationmatters.com/
>for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> or to get the free '/
Metrication matters/' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter
to subscribe.
--
James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(C) 931.212.0267
(H) 931.657.3107
(F) 931.657.3108
