The barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) is a unit of energy based on the approximate energy released by burning one barrel (42 US gallons or 158.9873 litres) of crude oil. The US Internal Revenue Service defines it as equal to 5.8 × 106 BTU. The value is necessarily approximate as various grades of oil have slightly different heating values.
5.8 × 106 BTU59 °F equals 6.1178632 × 109 J, about 6.1 GJ (HHV), or 1.7 MWh.
If one considers the lower heating value instead of the higher heating value, the value for one BOE would be approximately 5.4 GJ (see Ton of oil equivalent).
One BOE is roughly equivalent to 5,800 cubic feet of natural gas or 58 CCF. The USGS gives a figure of 6,000 cubic feet (170 cubic meters) of typical natural gas.
A commonly used multiple of the BOE is the kilo barrel of oil equivalent (kboe or kBOE), which is 1,000 times larger.
Other common multiples are the BBOe, (also BBOE), or billion barrel of oil equivalent, representing 109 barrels of oil, used to measure petroleum reserves, and million barrels per day, MMbd (or MMBD), used to measure daily production and consumption. Also used is the Mtoe, or Millions of tonnes of oil equivalent, a metric measurement equivalent to approximately 0.006841 BBOE.
The BOE is used by oil and gas companies in their financial statements as a way of combining oil and natural gas reserves and production into a single measure.
Famous quotes containing the words barrel of, barrel, oil and/or equivalent:
“When I die I want to decompose in a barrel of porter and have it served in all the pubs in Dublin.”
—J.P. (James Patrick)
“I was born a mechanic, and made a barrel before I was ten years old. The cooper told my father, “Fanny made that barrel, and has done it quicker and better than any boy I have had after six months’ training.” My father looked at it and said, “What a pity that you were not born a boy so that you could be good for something. Run into the house, child, and go to knitting.””
—Frances D. Gage (1808–1884)
“As artists they’re rot, but as providers they’re oil wells; they gush. Norris said she never wrote a story unless it was fun to do. I understand Ferber whistles at her typewriter. And there was that poor sucker Flaubert rolling around on his floor for three days looking for the right word.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)
“For some men the power to destroy life becomes the equivalent to the female power to create life.”
—Myriam Miedzian, U.S. author. Boys Will Be Boys, ch. 4 (1991)