07/13/2023
Fun Facts about petrols:
1. Outside of North America, gasoline is commonly referred to as “petrol.”
2. Gasoline contains around 10% ethanol because in the early 1990s, the U.S. issued a Clean Air Act that required Americans to use oxygenated gasoline in order for it to burn cleaner in combustion engines.
3. Roughly 19 gallons of gasoline can be refined from a barrel of oil (which contains around 42 gallons of crude oil).
4. Drivers in the United States account for around 44% of the world’s gasoline consumption.
5. The country with the most expensive gas prices is Norway. In December of last year, the price per gallon was around $9.25.
6. The average salary for an oil rig worker is just under $100,000.
7. The United States actually gets more of its oil from Canada and Mexico than it does from the Middle East.
8. Without added ethanol, a gallon of gasoline produces 19.64 pounds of carbon dioxide when burned. Diesel, on the other hand, produces 22.38 pounds.
9. Fuel tax began with Herbert Hoover, who created a revenue bill after the stock market crash of 1929. The bill included taxes on personal income, estates, corporations, and sales. In 1932, the House of Representatives passed a version of the bill that included fuel.
10. In 1859, the first U.S. oil well was dug in Titusville, Pennsylvania.
11. The diesel engine was named after its inventor, Rudolf Diesel, not the fuel that it runs off of. It actually was originally designed to run off of peanut oil.
12. Around 40% of all seaborne cargo is oil.
13. Gasoline vapors are heavier than air, so they settle on the ground and travel like a liquid. Because of this, they often find their way into drains, basements, and sewer lines.
14. When it was first introduced, Ford’s Model T car got a gas mileage of around 25 miles per gallon.
15. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserve – 298 billion barrels. The U.S. only has 33 billion barrels.
