Roll out the barrels

Roll out the barrels

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From motorbike sidecars, jockey training aids, art installations to flood water rescue boats and many more, oil barrels continue to have use after the fuel inside is consumed.

Saudi Arabia's oil exports have risen in February in response to stronger demand from customers and as OPEC's top producer battles for market share Reuters photographers around the globe have been photographing oil barrels to document these alternate uses.

Sadao Kimbara rides on a Honda motorcycle with a sidecar shaped like Thomas the Tank Engine that he made out of an oil barrel with his grandson Rui in the sidecar in Ome, on the outskirts of Tokyo.

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Slideshow

Oil barrel caps are seen outside a house for sale in the city of Granada.
. Managua, NICARAGUA. REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas

Oil barrel caps are seen outside a house for sale in the city of Granada.

A man sells water in a tank curt made from an oil barrel in Dala outside Yangon.
. YANGON, Myanmar. Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun

A man sells water in a tank curt made from an oil barrel in Dala outside Yangon.

A woman stands by a local shop that sells dishes and other utensils made from recycled metal cut from oil barrels in Kamukunji, Nairobi.
. Nairobi, KENYA. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola/Siegfried Modola

A woman stands by a local shop that sells dishes and other utensils made from recycled metal cut from oil barrels in Kamukunji, Nairobi.

Student jockeys practice their racing position on a horse simulator made from an oil barrel, known as "Pangal", at The Jockeys School in Panama City.
. Panama City. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso

Student jockeys practice their racing position on a horse simulator made from an oil barrel, known as "Pangal", at The Jockeys School in Panama City.

Rebeca Ruiz looks from her room window upon an improvised grill made from an oil barrel in Bogota.
. BOGOTA, COLOMBIA. REUTERS/Jose Miguel Gomez

Rebeca Ruiz looks from her room window upon an improvised grill made from an oil barrel in Bogota.

A waiter walks near tables made from oil barrels at a bar in Paranaque, Metro Manila.
. Erik De Castro

A waiter walks near tables made from oil barrels at a bar in Paranaque, Metro Manila.

Discarded oil barrels are used to prop up the dome of a pickup truck in a rural area near Santiago.
. SANTIAGO, Chile. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

Discarded oil barrels are used to prop up the dome of a pickup truck in a rural area near Santiago.

An old oil barrel is used as a rubbish bin beside a mountain road near the village of Schindellegi south of Zurich.
. SCHINDELLEGI, Switzerland. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

An old oil barrel is used as a rubbish bin beside a mountain road near the village of Schindellegi south of Zurich.

Oil Barrels are used as obstacles to keep vehicles off the curb in San Salvador.
. San Salvador, El Salvador. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas

Oil Barrels are used as obstacles to keep vehicles off the curb in San Salvador.

A sculpture made of discarded metal oil barrels is pictured at the Mexican Institute of Petroleum metro station in Mexico City.
. Mexico City, Mexico. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo

A sculpture made of discarded metal oil barrels is pictured at the Mexican Institute of Petroleum metro station in Mexico City.

Men unload oil barrels from a truck at a traditional soap factory in Adjame, an area of Abidjan.
. ABIDJAN, Cote d'Ivoire. Reuters/Luc Gnago

Men unload oil barrels from a truck at a traditional soap factory in Adjame, an area of Abidjan.

A man puts bricks into an oil barrel filled with water at a construction site in Colombo.
. COLOMBO, SRI LANKA. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

A man puts bricks into an oil barrel filled with water at a construction site in Colombo.

A boy walks past an oil barrel which being used as a bucket at a car wash in a migrant workers' village in Beijing.
. BEIJING, CHINA. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

A boy walks past an oil barrel which being used as a bucket at a car wash in a migrant workers' village in Beijing.

Vibrazioni's art design owner Alberto cuts an oil barrel as Riccardo works on a Harley Davidson motorbike personalised with part of an oil barrel in Massa Lombarda, Italy.
. MASSA LOMBARDA, ITALY. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

Vibrazioni's art design owner Alberto cuts an oil barrel as Riccardo works on a Harley Davidson motorbike personalised with part of an oil barrel in Massa Lombarda, Italy.

Fuel vendors rest behind fuel barrels in Aleppo. Residents in the besieged city have to buy crude oil from Islamic State-run areas and then use make-shift refineries to process it.
. ALEPPO, SYRIA. Nour Kelze

Fuel vendors rest behind fuel barrels in Aleppo. Residents in the besieged city have to buy crude oil from Islamic State-run areas and then use make-shift refineries to process it.

A man beats a sheet of metal cut from an oil barrel to use as recycling material in Kamukunji, Nairobi.
. Nairobi, KENYA. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola/Siegfried Modola

A man beats a sheet of metal cut from an oil barrel to use as recycling material in Kamukunji, Nairobi.

A government worker inspects discarded oil barrels that were made into makeshift rescue boats outside an office in Manila.
. Manila, Philippines. Reuters/Romeo Ranoco

A government worker inspects discarded oil barrels that were made into makeshift rescue boats outside an office in Manila.

A rubbish bin fashioned out of an oil barrel sits on the beach in Santa Monica, California.
. SANTA MONICA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

A rubbish bin fashioned out of an oil barrel sits on the beach in Santa Monica, California.

An oil barrel is seen on the Woolwich Ferry in London.
. LONDON, BRITAIN. REUTERS/Russell Boyce

An oil barrel is seen on the Woolwich Ferry in London.

Used oil barrels outside a garage in Cuevas del Becerro, near Malaga, southern Spain.
. CUEVAS DEL BECERRO, Spain. REUTERS/Jon Nazca

Used oil barrels outside a garage in Cuevas del Becerro, near Malaga, southern Spain.