Oil and Gas 101


Measuring Energy

Different types of energy are measured by different physical units:

  • Barrels or Gallons for Petroleum
  • Cubic Feet for Natural Gas
  • Tons for Coal
  • Kilowatt-hours for electricity

Common Abbreviations

  • Bbl = barrel
  • b/d = barrels per day
  • Mcf = thousand cubic feet
  • MMcf = million cubic feet
  • Bcf = billion cubic feet
  • Tcf = trillion cubic feet
  • BTU = British Thermal Unit
  • NGL = Natural Gas liquids
  • LPG = Liquefied Petroleum Gases

Energy Conversions

1 Barrel of Crude Oil =
  • 42 gallons
  • 5,800,000 BTU of energy
  • 5,614 cubic feet of natural gas
  • 0.22 ton of bituminous coal
1 Metric Ton of Crude Oil =
  • 2,204 pounds
  • 7.46 barrels of domestic crude oil
  • 6.99 barrels of foreign crude oil
One cubic foot of Natural Gas =
  • 7.48 gallons
  • 1,027 BTU of energy
  • 0.000178 barrel of crude oil
  • .00004 ton of bituminous coal
One cubic meter of Natural Gas =
  • 35.314 cubic feet

Crude Oil Conversion Factors

FROMTO
Tonnes (metric)KilolitresBarrelsUS GallonsTonnes per year
Multiply By
Tonnes (metric)11.1657.33307.86-
Kilolitres0.858116.2898264.17-
Barrels0.13640.159142-
US Gallons0.003250.00380.02381-
Barrels per day----49.8