# Is an oil barrel worth more than the oil it holds? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 11, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-oil-barrel-worth-more-than-the-oil-it-holds/745848 "2016-02-11T19:15:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-oil-barrel-worth-more-than-the-oil-it-holds/745848/21 "2016-02-12T15:56:29Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > At the local auto shop level most oil is distributed in 55 gallon barrels (in the US anyway), or smaller containers for retail. Obviously the most amount of oil is delivered in much larger containers from tanker trucks to tanker railroad cars, to oil tanker ships. Probably all of those are superseded by the amount moved from one location to another by pipeline. The oil used in auto shops is not crude oil straight from the ground. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-oil-barrel-worth-more-than-the-oil-it-holds/745848/22 "2016-02-12T16:25:09Z")
My portable charger also cost a lot more than the 1.5 amps that are in there, or all the amps I can put in there in the tool’s lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-oil-barrel-worth-more-than-the-oil-it-holds/745848/23 "2016-02-12T16:38:20Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > The oil used in auto shops is not crude oil straight from the ground. Yes. That was in response to the comment about oil products. I was pointing out they are not shipped in 42 gallon crude oil barrels, which as I previously pointed out may not even be used to hold crude oil. Sorry if that was confusing. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-oil-barrel-worth-more-than-the-oil-it-holds/745848/24 "2016-02-12T17:16:21Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It’s a lot better than the old days when the highways were littered with oil barrels. > [@snfaulkner](#): > > …and oil barrel pull-tops. Jimmy Buffet once stepped on one of those pop tops and almost sliced off his foot. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-oil-barrel-worth-more-than-the-oil-it-holds/745848/25 "2016-02-12T17:33:21Z")
I wonder how much money is in a pork barrel? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-oil-barrel-worth-more-than-the-oil-it-holds/745848/26 "2016-02-12T17:53:02Z")
Anyone know the going rate for a barrel of monkeys? Or should be just add up the number of posters here, multiplied by the annual subscription rate and call it even? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-oil-barrel-worth-more-than-the-oil-it-holds/745848/27 "2016-02-12T19:29:45Z")
On a related note, the gas tank for a 2015 Nissan Sentra costs hundreds of dollars but can only hold $20 worth of gasoline. And a VLCC supertanker costs about $120 million but only holds 300,000 tons of crude oil, (2 million barrels) which is only worth about $60 million. A Group 27 deep cycle marine battery costs about $100 but only holds about 5 cents worth of electricity. And the last time I bought a jar of cinnamon, it cost me $4. But when I took the empty jar back for a refill in the bulk groceries section, the cinnamon itself only cost 50 cents. Therefore the jar cost me $3.50, seven times what the cinnamon costs. There’s a 10 cent deposit on soda bottles in Michigan, but it costs the bottling plant way less than 10 cents for the soda which fills the bottle. So, it’s hardly unique to say that the contents of a container are less valuable than the container itself. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-oil-barrel-worth-more-than-the-oil-it-holds/745848/28 "2016-02-12T20:07:17Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > This is one of the main reasons my disbelief keeps getting suspended while playing _Fallout 4_. I’ve never seen a barrel on a highway but the fucking things were everywhere in alternate 2177. Half-Life 2 had the same issue, though there [is an explanation](http://www.screencuisine.net/hlcomic/index.php?date=2005-06-24). ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-oil-barrel-worth-more-than-the-oil-it-holds/745848/29 "2016-02-12T20:08:44Z")
In [_The 80s: A Look Back at the Tumultuous Decade 1980-1989_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_80s:_A_Look_Back_at_the_Tumultuous_Decade_1980-1989), one event which took place in the 80s was the formation of OBEC, the Organization of Barrel Exporting Nations, a cartel which drove up the price of barrels to astronomical levels, holding the OPEC countries hostage to their control over the world’s barrels ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-oil-barrel-worth-more-than-the-oil-it-holds/745848/30 "2016-02-12T21:52:05Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > I can get a used steel barrel suitable for holding oil for about $50, so to you answer your question, if you needed to transport a barrel of crude oil from point A to point B in the back of your pickup truck, the oil in the barrel is likely cheaper than the barrel itself. Used oil drums seem to be rather cheaper in Europe: [http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Empty-Steel-Oil-Drum-Barrel-205-Litres-/311530711553](http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Empty-Steel-Oil-Drum-Barrel-205-Litres-/311530711553) [Blocket - Hela Sveriges marknadsplats, bilar, bostäder, möbler m.m.](http://www.blocket.se/halland/Oljefat_65209885.htm) (100:- = about $12) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-oil-barrel-worth-more-than-the-oil-it-holds/745848.md?page=1)