In the modern world, almost everything is tied to the cost of oil. This black ruler has her own unit of measure - 1 barrel of oil. Often this phrase is found in modern economics. Many constantly use it in their conversations, but few know what it is equal to. Our article was created to eliminate economic illiteracy!
What is a barrel and where did it come from?
A barrel of oil is the standard measure of volume in oil trading , which is 42 gallons or 159 liters.
When oil production did not reach industrial proportions, its popularity was not so high and there was practically no trade, so there was no need to establish a single measure of volume.
After American industrialists got down to business, oil was able to displace whale oil, which was used to illuminate homes and streets. Kerosene, obtained in the process of oil refining, gained worldwide popularity, and the demand for oil began to grow exponentially. In this regard, oil companies had to look for a single container in which it would be convenient to transport and sell raw materials.
Initially, wooden barrels of whiskey were used to transport oil, but their volume was not always the same: if the volume was larger, traders suffered losses. This has become the main reason for establishing a single measure of volume for oil trading.
In August 1866, at a regular meeting of independent oil producers, a single volume of marketable oil was established - 42 gallons. This value was not chosen by chance. In barrels with a volume of 42 gallons, they traded in fish and other products - this was the maximum allowable weight that a person was able to lift on himself, and the minimum volume that was advantageous to transport.
After another 6 years, the American Association of Petroleum Industrialists officially recognized the oil barrel as the standard for fossil fuel trading.
Blue barrel
Surely many wondered why in the English language abbreviation when designating 1 barrel of oil, the double letter "b" (bbl) is used. Many agree that the second letter "b" came into circulation after the well-known "Standard Oil" began to paint its barrels in blue, thereby ensuring that the tank contains exactly 42 gallons.
However, this version failed, after the discovery of a document in which the designation bbl occurs 100 years before the discovery of oil-bearing areas. In the 18th century, this designation was indicated on a cargo that had nothing to do with hydrocarbons - honey, rum, whale oil and so on.
Thus, it still remains a mystery where the similar name came from for the measure of volume. However, no one is in a hurry to unravel it, as this will not affect the quotes.
Different oil - different volume
It is known that oil produced in different parts of the world has a different density. So, the easiest is WTI American oil ; the European marker, Brent, is recognized as slightly more severe; Russian grade Urals is considered one of the most difficult. Depending on the density, when calculating the weight of 1 oil barrel of different oil, you have to enter different values. For example, 1 ton of Russian oil fits in 7.29 barrels, and European - in 7.59. That is why Urals brand oil is cheaper than other grades.
So how many barrels per ton?
As mentioned earlier, the number of barrels depends on which grade black gold belongs to. Both OPEC and the CIS countries have their own classification. According to the yearbooks published by the organization of oil exporting countries, 7.6 barrels are contained in a ton of Saudi fossil fuels, and if you count from the opposite, then 1 barrels contain 0.132 tons of hydrocarbons.
Algerian oil is slightly lighter - one ton fits in 7.9 barrels, and if we again take the reciprocal, then 1 barrel is 0.126 tons of black gold.
Many well-known international publications that publish ton-to-barrel conversion factors take Russian oil into account not as a weighted average of Ural and Siberian oil, but as an arithmetic average. On the one hand, this is not entirely correct, but no one is revising the established standards. Thus, it turns out that 1 barrel of black gold for Russian hydrocarbons is 137 kg.