Note that rounding errors may occur, so always check the results. When a wine or spirit ages in a barrel, small amounts of oxygen are introduced as the barrel lets some air in (compare to microoxygenation where oxygen is deliberately added). It actually consists of two related systems—the U.S. Today the barrel designation continues to be used, and while physical barrels are rarely used in the industry, the 42-gallon standard remains as an official, and iconic, unit of measurement in the petroleum sector. Elsewhere oil is more commonly measured in cubic metres (m³) and less commonly in tonnes. "bbl" redirects here. Units for comparing energy. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. 3 Outside of the oil industry, the unit Mbbl (megabarrel) can sometimes stand for one million barrels. Other terms are used when discussing only oil. This is a conversion chart for barrel (liquid) (U.S. Measure). For all other physical quantities, according to the International System of Units, the uppercase letter "M" means "mega-" ("one million"), for example: Mm (one million metres, megametres), MHz (one million hertz, or megahertz), MW (one million watts, or megawatt), MeV (one million electronvolt, or megaelectronvolt). The cranberry barrel, however, measures 5,826 cubic inches. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. However, while Ida Tarbell's 1904 Standard Oil Company history acknowledged the "holy blue barrel", the abbreviation "bbl" had been in use well before the 1859 birth of the U.S. petroleum industry.[17]. These terms can refer to either the production of crude oil at an oil well, the conversion of crude oil to other products at an oil refinery, or the overall consumption of oil by a region or country. This standard barrel of oil will occupy a different volume at different pressures and temperatures. An allowance of two gallons will be made on the gauge of each and every 40 gallons in favor of the buyer. For instance the conversion factor set by the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) for Western Canadian Select (WCS) crude oil traded at Hardisty, Alberta, Canada is 6.29287 U.S. barrels per cubic metre,[22] despite the uncertainty in converting the volume for crude oil. The name was derived in medieval times from the French baril, of unknown origin, but still in use, both in French and as derivations in many other languages such as Italian, Polish and Spanish. In most countries such usage is obsolescent, increasingly superseded by SI units. For the cactus known as the "blue barrel cactus", see, Accuracy when converting from barrel to cubic metre. 1 US liquid gallon = 231 cu in and 1 inch = 25.4 mm implies exactly 158.987294928 litres. Definition: Barrel This unit is used in North America for crude oil or other petroleum products. barrel: see English units of measurement English units of measurement, principal system of weights and measures used in a few nations, the only major industrial one being the United States. The nominal conversion factor is 1 cubic metre = 6.2898 oil barrels,[13] but conversion is generally done by custody transfer meters on the border, since the volumes are specified at different temperatures, and the exact conversion factor depends on both density and temperature. [12] There is a conflict concerning the units for oil barrels (see § Definitions and units). Some products have a standard weight or volume that constitutes a barrel: Fluid barrels vary depending on what is being measured and where. One common term is barrels per day (BPD, BOPD, bbl/d, bpd, bd, or b/d), where 1 BPD is equivalent to 0.0292 gallons per minute. In Canada, oil companies measure oil in cubic metres, but convert to barrels on export, since most of Canada's oil production is exported to the US. In the UK a beer barrel is 36 imperial gallons (43 US gal; 164 L). An oil barrel (bbl) is a measure of volume of crude oil and other petroleum products. Tun. When oil production began, there was no standard container for oil, so oil and petroleum products were stored and transported in barrels of different shapes and sizes. The tun (Old English: tunne, Latin: tunellus, Middle Latin: tunna) is an English unit of liquid volume (not weight), used for measuring wine, oil or honey.Typically a large vat or vessel, most often holding 252 wine gallons, but occasionally other sizes (e.g. In Canada, it is measured in cubic metres per day (m3/d). The diagonal depth of the sofa can be determined by first placing a straight edge from the highest point of the back frame (do not include pillows) to the front of the arm. In other commercial connections, barrel sizes such as beer keg volumes also are standardised in many countries. Outside the United States, volumes of oil are usually reported in cubic metres (m3) instead of oil barrels. You can also go to the universal conversion page. You can also go to the universal conversion page. But when necessary, such volume is converted to a volume of oil of equivalent enthalpy of combustion. In many connections the term drum is used almost interchangeably with barrel. Conversely, a heavy oil with a density of 934 kg/m3 (API gravity of 20) might only increase in volume by 0.039%. As the US gallon since 1893 is defined as 3.785411784 litre, a volume of one barrel is exactly 158.987294928 litres. On the other hand, there are efforts to avoid this ambiguity, and most of the barrel dealers today prefer to use bbl, instead of Mbbl, mbbl, MMbbl or mmbbl. Your value gets instantly converted to all other units on the page. A Barrel of Oil. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. You can view more details on each measurement unit: barrel [US, petroleum] or millififth The SI derived unit for volume is the cubic meter. Some sources assert that "bbl" originated as a symbol for "blue barrels" delivered by Standard Oil in its early days. 1 cubic meter is equal to 6.2898107438466 barrel [US, petroleum], or 1320860.2562078 millififth. In many connections the term drum is used almost interchangeably with barrel. Both the 42-US-gallon (159 L) barrels (based on the old English wine measure), the tierce (159 litres) and the 40-US-gallon (151.4 L) whiskey barrels were used. A petroleum barrel of 42 gallons may have become standard in the American Southwest because casks of this capacity were readily available. Since different varieties of petroleum have different densities, however, there is not a single conversion between mass and volume. Temperature is measured in degrees Fahrenheit (°F). To switch the unit simply find the one you want on the page and click it. 2: Enter the value you want to convert (barrel). The logic above also implies the same level of accuracy in measurements for barrels if there is a 1 °F (0.56 °C) error in measuring the temperature at time of measuring the volume. You can view more details on each measurement unit: millistere or barrel [US, petroleum] The SI derived unit for volume is the cubic meter. Canadian companies operate internally and report to Canadian governments in cubic metres, but often convert to US barrels for the benefit of American investors and oil marketers. 256, 240 and 208 gallons) were also used. And by that means King Richard III's English wine tierce became the American standard oil barrel. Definition of barrel (Entry 1 of 2) 1 : a round bulging vessel of greater length than breadth that is usually made of staves bound with hoops and has flat ends of equal diameter This page features online conversion from US beer barrel to gallon.These units belong to different measurement systems. ", "Western Canadian Select (WCS) Crude Oil Futures", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Barrel_(unit)&oldid=969554363, Customary units of measurement in the United States, Articles with incomplete citations from July 2020, Wikipedia articles needing rewrite from January 2015, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Butter and cheese in UK, 224 pounds (102 kg), This page was last edited on 26 July 2020, at 04:15. If you need to convert US beer barrel to another compatible unit, please pick the one you need on the page below. A standard barrel in this context is thus not simply a measure of volume, but of volume under specific conditions. They decided they needed a standard unit of measure to convince buyers that they were getting a fair volume for their money, and settled on the standard wine tierce, which was two gallons larger than the standard whisky barrel. A barrel can technically be used to specify any volume. Measure your furniture (or ask a store associate to measure for you). Traditional and Commercial Barrel Sizes", "B.8 Factors for Units, Listed Alphabetically - Section B", "How much, for what, and ending up where? If a well is producing 10 mbd of fluids with a 20% water cut, then the well would also be said to be producing 8,000 barrels of oil a day (bod). In general, water injection rates will be stated in the same units as oil production rates, since the usual objective is to replace the volume of oil produced with a similar volume of water to maintain reservoir pressure. English units are the units of measurement used in England up to 1826 (when they were replaced by Imperial units), which evolved as a combination of the Anglo-Saxon and Roman systems of units. In the United States a 40-gallon barrel for proof spirits has been legally recognized, and federal taxes on fermented liquors are calculated on a barrel of 31 gallons. Nearly all other countries use the metric system. Liquid Measure. To switch the unit simply find the one you want on the page and click it. [9], In the worldwide oil industry, an oil barrel is defined as 42 US gallons, which is about 159 litres,[10] or 35 imperial gallons.[11]. To switch the unit simply find the one you want on the page and click it. Note that rounding errors may occur, so always check the results. For crude oil having the same gravity, a metric ton is equal to approximately 252 imperial…. In the US most fluid barrels (apart from oil) are 31.5 US gallons (26 imp gal; 119 L) (half a hogshead), but a beer barrel is 31 US gallons (26 imp gal; 117 L). RockyMtnGuy (talk) 05:20, 6 July 2010 (UTC) Dry-weight barrels include the barrel of 200 pounds for fish, beef, and pork and that of 376 pounds for cement, among others. It was a very large wooden barrel. In the international oil market context, however, prices in United States dollars per barrel are commonly used, and the term is variously translated, often to derivations of the Latin / Teutonic root fat (for example vat or Fass).[1]. Standard Barrel Act For Fruits, Vegetables, and Dry Commodities, "U.S. Oil wells recover not just oil from the ground, but also natural gas and water. Barrel, unit of both liquid and dry measure in the British Imperial and United States Customary systems, ranging from 31.5 to 42 gallons for liquids and fixed at 7,056 cubic inches (105 dry quarts, or 115.63 litres) for most fruits, vegetables, and other dry commodities. Corrections? Omissions? This is different from the SI convention where "M" stands for the Greek "mega", meaning "million". Severe damage can occur when the measuring head enters the feedport of the barrel. In the United Kingdom, for instance, the measurement accuracy required is ±0.25%.[23]. A barrel is one of several units of volume applied in various contexts; there are dry barrels, fluid barrels (such as the U.K. beer barrel and U.S. beer barrel), oil barrels, and so forth. In turn, this allows maximum accuracy when converting between standard barrel and standard cubic metre. The Weekly Register, an Oil City, Pennsylvania newspaper, stated on August 31, 1866 that "the oil producers have issued the following circular": Whereas, It is conceded by all producers of crude petroleum on Oil Creek that the present system of selling crude oil by the barrel, without regard to the size, is injurious to the oil trade, alike to the buyer and seller, as buyers, with an ordinary sized barrel cannot compete with those with large ones. Barrel is an old English word for a big holder of liquids, such as petrol, beer, wine or oil.Barrels are most commonly made of either wood or metal but many are plastic. Regulatory authorities in producing countries set standards for measurement accuracy of produced hydrocarbons, where such measurements affect taxes or royalties to the government. What is volume Instant conversions Conversion tables Rate conversions; 1 bbl = 0.0001288930976 ac-ft bbl>ac-ft ac-ft>bbl What is ac-ft; 1 bbl = 233 804.846 cap 0 bbl>0 0>bbl What is 0; 1 bbl = 176 652.55 cap 00 bbl>00 00>bbl What is 00 One barrel of oil is 158.987 litres (42 US gallons). This page features online conversion from US beer barrel to fluid ounce.These units belong to different measurement systems. 1 cubic meter is equal to 1000 millistere, or 6.2898107438466 barrel [US, petroleum]. [14] Overall, the conversion is usually between 6 and 8 barrels (954 and 1,270 litres; 252 and 336 US gallons) per tonne. The "b" may have been doubled originally to indicate the plural (1 bl, 2 bbl), or possibly it was doubled to eliminate any confusion with bl as a symbol for the bale. This is a conversion chart for barrel (U.S. Dry Measure). Updates? Here is a formula to convert from °C to °F: + Units of weight and mass include the pound (453.6 grams), which contains 16 … Crude Oil Measurement. In the United States, an oil barrel is defined as 42 US gallons, which is about 159 litres or 35 imperial gallons. Thus, the 42 US-gallon oil barrel is a unit of measure, and is no longer a physical container used to transport crude oil, as most petroleum is moved in pipelines or oil tankers. In the oil field, it is often important to differentiate between rates of production of fluids, which may be a mix of oil and water, and rates of production of the oil itself. in other languages often refers to a physical container rather than a known measure. They are called 210 litre or 200 kg drums outside the United States. In an environment with 100% relative humidity, very little water evaporates … [a], Burning a barrel of light, synthetic, or heavy crude yields 38.51, 39.40, or 40.90 GJ (thermal) respectively, so 1 bpd of synthetic crude is about 450 kW (slightly less for light crude, slightly more for heavy crude).[21]. [15], By 1872, the standard oil barrel was firmly established as 42 US-gallons. 1 cubic meter is equal to 4.803128204392 drum. Since medieval times the term barrel as a unit of measure has had various meanings throughout Europe, ranging from about 100 litres to about 1,000 litres. Various standards have applied to English units at different times, in different places, and for different applications. Companies on the European stock exchanges report the mass of oil in tonnes. In many other countries, crude oil is measured in metric tons. After the American Revolution in 1776, American merchants continued to use the same size barrels. 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