Tonne Of Oil Equivalent (toe)

Metric (SI)Current unit

Exactly 41.868 GJ, the energy released by burning one tonne of crude oil. A standard unit in energy statistics.

1 tonne of oil equivalent = 41,868,000,000 joules (exactly).

About the tonne of oil equivalent

Energy statisticians need a way to add up coal, gas, hydro and oil in one column, and the tonne of oil equivalent does that by expressing everything as the heat from burning a tonne of crude oil. Because crude oils differ in calorific value, the figure is a convention rather than a measurement, and more than one version circulates. The International Energy Agency uses 41.868 gigajoules, which is the figure used here. Other sources use 41.85 gigajoules, and a version based on the thermochemical calorie gives 44.769.

In everyday terms the IEA value is 11,630 kilowatt-hours, or about 39.7 million British thermal units, and it equals 10 gigacalories on the international steam table calorie. Smaller and larger steps are the kilogram of oil equivalent (one thousandth) and the megatoe and gigatoe. One toe is about 7.33 barrels of oil equivalent and 1.42857 tonnes of coal equivalent. Converting electricity into toe depends on an assumed plant efficiency, so national tables can differ.

Sources: Wikipedia: Tonne of oil equivalent; Wikipedia: Calorie

Tonne Of Oil Equivalent conversion chart

1 tonne of oil equivalent expressed in every other energy unit:

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• joule (energy)
• kilojoule (energy)
• megajoule (energy)
• gigajoule (energy)
• millijoule (energy)
• watt-hour (energy)
• kilowatt-hour (energy)
• megawatt-hour (energy)
• meter (length)
• kilometer (length)
• centimeter (length)
• millimeter (length)
• micrometer (length)
• nanometer (length)
• picometer (length)
• decimeter (length)

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