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:
“Peaches grow wild, and pigs can live in clover;
A barrel of salted herrings lasts a year;
The spring begins before the winter’s over.”
—Elinor Wylie (1885–1928)
“I do not know if you remember the tale of the girl who saves the ship under mutiny by sitting on the powder barrel with her lighted torch ... and all the time knowing that it is empty? This has seemed to me a charming image of the women of my time. There they were, keeping the world in order ... by sitting on the mystery of life, and knowing themselves that there was no mystery.”
—Isak Dinesen [Karen Blixen] (1885–1962)
“Is a park any better than a coal mine? What’s a mountain got that a slag pile hasn’t? What would you rather have in your garden—an almond tree or an oil well?”
—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944)
“Distinctions drawn by the mind are not necessarily equivalent to distinctions in reality.”
—Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274)