- Oil barrel, (abbreviation bbl): a legacy volume measure of 42 US gallons (34.9723 imp gal; 158.9873 L). It can also mean 35 imperial gallons (42.0332 US gal; 159.1132 L). Commonly a barrel is regarded as 159 L volume.
See caveat below regarding considerations for conversion to metric units.
The standard oil barrel of 42 US gallons is used in the United States as a measure of crude oil and other petroleum products. Elsewhere, oil is commonly measured in cubic metres (m3) or in tonnes (t), with (metric) tonnes more often being used by European oil companies. International companies listed on American stock exchanges tend to express their oil-production volumes in barrels for global reporting purposes, and those listed on European exchanges tend to express their production in tonnes. There can be 6 to 8 barrels of oil in a ton, depending on density. For example: 256 US gallons of heavy distillate per ton, 272 gallons of crude oil per ton, and 333 gallons of gasoline per ton.
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Famous quotes containing the words oil and/or barrel:
“His education lay like a film of white oil on the black lake of his barbarian consciousness. For this reason, the things he said were hardly interesting at all. Only what he was.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“The watchers in their leopard suits
Waited till it was time,
And aimed between the belt and boot
And let the barrel climb.”
—Louis Simpson (b. 1923)