Most people rely on petrol in their lives in one way or another. As Cambodia’s leading supplier of fuel, we at Kampuchea Tela have compiled a list of 10 fun and interesting facts about petrol and oil that you might not know.
1- LPG had no smell
LPG fuel is a mixture of propane and butane, it happens to have no smell but companies add Ethyl Mercaptan, a chemical with a strong odor. The reason for this is that anyone around a potentially dangerous leek will be able to detect the problem quickly by smelling it.
2- Norway has the most expensive petrol prices in the western world
Norway has some of the world’s highest prices at the pump. Despite having large oil reserves of their own and a small population. Unlike some other oil producing countries the Norwegians do not subsidize their petrol prices at the pump and instead use the money for education, healthcare and a national retirement fund for the people.
3- It takes more than 23 tons of dead plants and animals to produce 1 litre of petrol
Petrol is made of fossils of animals (mainly sea plankton and algae) as well as some plant material that died millions of years ago. It takes 23 tons of these fossils to produce just 1 litre of petrol.
4- Los Angeles has a secret oil field
LA is a major city and the entertainment hub of America, it also houses the 3rd largest oil field in the USA within its city borders, the oil wells are hidden inside fake buildings and monuments making them invisible to residents and visitors to the city. The buildings are also soundproofed to mask the noise of the machinery used to pump the oil. one of the oil wells that is located in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood is hidden inside a fake Jewish synagogue while other wells are hidden in windowless fake office buildings around the city.
5- Petroleum jelly was discovered on an oil rig.
Petroleum jelly was discovered when a chemist called Robert Chesebroug who visited an oil rig in 1859 and observed the workers putting the wax that built up on the rigs and drills onto their wounds and burns to help the healing process. The chemist discovered how to distil petroleum jelly and sold it under the trademark name Vaseline, originally introduced in 1872, Vaseline is still widely available throughout the world for skin protection and cosmetic purposes to this day.
6- Petrol was used as medicine
Thousands of years ago before oil was refined for petrol and before cars where invented, oil was used as a medicine for a number of different ailments. More recently scientists have ruled out the benefits of oil in most of the medicines it was previously used for. Some examples of medical problems previously treated with oil are eye diseases, reptile bites, respiratory problems, hysteria, epilepsy. A combination of petroleum and cabbage stalks was used as a cure for scabies.
7- Oil is measured in barrels
In 1866 a universal measurement for oil was established. A barrel of oil is equivalent to 159 litres in metric measurements. The reason for this is at the time a standard US oil barrel was 42 gallons (approximately 159 litres). In modern times though- no one actually buys a barrel of oil and oil is very rarely transported in actual barrels.
8- The Druzhba pipeline is the longest oil pipeline in the world
The Druzhaba oil pipeline is the longest in the world. It begins in the far eastern part of European Russia in the town of Almetyevsk and stretches across western Russia, Belarus, Poland and into Germany for some 4,000 kilometers (2,500 mi), there are branch lines that divert off to countries like the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Slovakia. Construction began in 1960 with the first oil being piped through the line in 1970, these days the pipeline is the main route for Russian gas to reach Europe.
9- Oil is used for a lot more than for making petrol and powering cars
Oil is used for producing electricity in some places, it is also an essential ingredient of many other products including many types of clothes, fertilizers, plastic bottles, pens and lots more.
10- The world’s largest oil field is in Saudi Arabia
The Ghawar Field in Saudi Arabia is by far the largest oil field in the world, it produces up to 3.8 million barrels of oil a day and measures 280 by 30 km. The oil field was discovered in 1948 and oil began to be mined in 1951. The oil field belongs to Saudi Aramco, who are the state-run oil company in Saudi Arabia.
