On a side note, here's a little history lesson from your friends at Ticker Sense. You might have noticed long ago that the official abbreviation for barrels (when referencing a barrel of crude oil) is "BBL," despite the obvious fact that the word "barrel" lacks a second "b."

What are the origins of this mysterious "b"? The answer, courtesy of the Energy Information Administration:

In the early 1860's, when oil production began, there was no standard container for oil, so oil and petroleum products were stored and transported in barrels of all different shapes and sizes (beer barrels, fish barrels, molasses barrels, turpentine barrels, etc.). By the early 1870's, the 42-gallon barrel had been adopted as the standard for oil trade. This was 2 gallons per barrel more than the 40-gallon standard used by many other industries at the time. The extra 2 gallons was to allow for evaporation and leaking during tranport (most barrels were made of wood). Standard Oil began manufacturing 42 gallon barrels that were blue to be used for transporting petroleum. The use of a blue barrel, abbreviated "bbl," guaranteed a buyer that this was a 42-gallon barrel.



Please note that we do not advise reciting this fact to show off at your next cocktail party.

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