The US fluid ounce is a unit of volume in the US customary unit system with the symbol fl oz.
Primarily used for measuring the volume or capacity of liquids, 1 US fluid ounce is equal to 29.57353 ml. It is also equal to 1.040843 imperial fluid ounces.
1 US fluid ounce is equal to 1/16 imperial pint, 1/32 imperial quart and 1/128 imperial gallon.
The fluid ounce was originally defined by the volume taken up by one ounce of a substance. Of course this would be different depending on the density of that substance; for example England used wine whereas Scotland used water to establish this measure.
The US fluid ounce is derived from the US gallon; which was originally based on the English wine gallon (231 cubic inches).
The barrel is a unit of volume used in the oil industry with the symbol bbl.
Oil is more commonly expressed in terms of cubic metres (m³) but in the US and in the economic world (mainly because such a large percentage of the world's oil is shipped to the US) as barrels.
The measurement of the barrel originated in the US at the first oil well in Pennsylvania. There were so many variants of barrel size (including those used for wine and other goods) that the distrust became so prevalent a central and standard barrel size was created. This was finally established in 1872 as 42 US gallons.