View source for Barrel of oil equivalent

{{Short description|Unit of energy}}
{{About|the unit of energy|other uses|Boe (disambiguation)}}

The '''barrel of oil equivalent''' ('''BOE''') is a [[units of energy|unit of energy]] based on the approximate energy released by burning one [[Barrel (unit)|barrel]] ({{convert|1|oilbbl|USgal|disp=out|abbr=off}}, {{convert|1|oilbbl|Impgal|disp=out|abbr=on}} or about {{convert|1|oilbbl|L|0|disp=out|abbr=off}}) of [[crude oil]]. The BOE is used by oil and gas companies in their financial statements as a way of combining [[petroleum|oil]] and [[natural gas]] reserves and production into a single measure, although this energy equivalence does not take into account the lower financial value of energy in the form of gas.

The U.S. [[Internal Revenue Service]] defines a BOE as equal to 5.8 million [[BTU]].<ref>[https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-99-18.pdf IRS publication]</ref> ({{cvt|5.8|e6BTU-59F|J|-2|lk=in|disp=x|&nbsp;equals&nbsp;}}, about {{cvt|1|BOE|GJ|disp=out}} <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Higher heating value|HHV]]<nowiki>]</nowiki>, or about {{convert|1|BOE|MWh|disp=out|lk=out}}.) The value is necessarily approximate as various grades of oil and gas have slightly different heating values. 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 [[tonne of oil equivalent]]). Typically {{convert|1|BOE|cuftnaturalgas|disp=output only|lk=out}} or 58 [[Therm|CCF]] are equivalent to one BOE. The [[United States Geological Survey|USGS]] gives a figure of {{convert|6000|cuft|abbr=off}} of typical natural gas.<ref>[http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/WEcont/world/woutsum.pdf Table AR-1 USGS World Petroleum Assessment 2000, Description and results, USGS World Energy Assessment team]</ref>

A commonly used multiple of the BOE is the [[Metric system|kilo]] barrel of oil equivalent (kboe or kBOE), which is 1,000 BOE. This should be avoided because it might lead to the use of MBOE ([[Metric system|mega]] barrel of oil equivalent) but MBOE actually means thousand BOE. This potential confusion arises due to the use of Roman numeral M (one thousand) for natural gas production and MM (one million, even though MM means two thousand). In the S.I. (metric system) M means million, but cubic feet and barrels are not S.I. units, so S.I. prefixes should not be used. Another commonly used multiple is million barrels equivalent per day, MMboed (or MMBOED, MMboepd, where MM denotes a [[1,000,000|million]]), used to measure daily production and consumption,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20010820165259/http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/Infocardnew.html Energy Infocard] retrieved 16 October 2008</ref> and the BBOe (also BBOE) or billion barrels of oil equivalent, representing 10<sup>9</sup> barrels of oil, used to measure [[petroleum reserves]].<ref>[http://pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds-060/ESpt1.html USGS World Petroleum Assessment] retrieved 16 October 2008</ref>

Metric regions commonly use the [[tonne of oil equivalent]] (toe), or more often million toe (Mtoe). Since this is a measurement of mass, any conversion to barrels of oil equivalent depends on the density of the oil in question, as well as the energy content. Typically 1 tonne of oil has a volume of {{convert|6.8|to|7.5|oilbbl|m3|order=flip}}. The United States EIA suggests 1 toe has an average energy value of {{convert|39.68|e6Btu|GJ|sigfig=3}}.<ref>[http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/archive/aeo01/pdf/apph.pdf Conversion Factors] retrieved 16 October 2008</ref>

==See also==

* {{Section link|Conversion of units|Energy}}
* {{annotated link|A Cubic Mile of Oil|''A Cubic Mile of Oil''}}
* {{annotated link|Energy density}}
* {{annotated link|Heat of combustion}}
* {{annotated link|Miles per gallon gasoline equivalent}}
* {{annotated link|Therm}}
* {{annotated link|Tonne of oil equivalent}}

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Petroleum economics]]
[[Category:Units of energy]]
[[Category:Equivalent units]]