Bottom of the Barrel

Imagine a standard barrel of crude oil – 42 gallons. The barrel unit of measure dates back to 1859 When Pennsylvania oil wells were first drilled And the wooden ‘tierce’ wine cask Holding 42 gallons and weighing about 300 pounds Was about all one man could maneuver. Today, a barrel of crude oil sells for about eighty dollars, About half the retail price of its contents In four dollar-per-gallon gasoline at the pump. That sounds like a lot of profit for the oil companies. But wait… That barrel of crude oil refined into gasoline Yields less than 20 gallons of automotive fuel. There is also about 12 gallons of diesel oil left To fill the trucks and power emergency generators. From what’s left over after that, There’s 2.6 gallons of jet fuel To power all the airliners in the world. The remainder yields about 1.8 gallons of asphalt To pave roads for the cars and runways for the aircraft. Still left over is a bit less than a gallon of propane To power our portable stoves and barbecue grills. Still left at the bottom of that barrel is enough raw material For 540 toothbrushes, 65 plastic drinking cups, Twenty-three hula hoops and 65 plastic dustpans, Almost 200 one-cup plastic measures, 135 synthetic rubber balls, Thirty-nine polyester T-shirts and a quart of paint thinner. That $80 barrel of oils looks like a huge bargain now, A veritable ‘horn of plenty’, When viewed from a fuller perspective.