Cubic Meters to Oil Barrels (m³ to bbl)

1 cubic meter equals 6.28981077 oil barrels (rounded).

1 cubic meter = 6.28981077 oil barrels

How to convert cubic meters to oil barrels

To convert cubic meters to oil barrels, multiply the number of cubic meters by 6.28981077. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply oil barrels by 0.1589872949 (rounded).

oil barrels = cubic meters × 6.28981077

Example: 10 cubic meters = 62.8981077 oil barrels.

Pints, quarts, gallons and fluid ounces differ between the US and the UK. Units are labeled 'US' or 'imperial' to avoid confusion.

About these units

Cubic Meter (m³)

Metric (SI)Current unit

The SI derived unit of volume: 1,000 liters. Used for water supply, gas, concrete and shipping space.

When the metric system was set up, the cube whose edge is one meter became its natural large unit of volume. A cubic meter also went by other names: kiloliter, now rarely used, and stere, still applied to stacked firewood. In modern SI it is the coherent derived unit of volume, and the liter is a convenience unit defined from it as one thousandth of a cubic meter.

A cubic meter is large by everyday standards. It holds 1,000 liters, and pure water at its densest weighs almost exactly one tonne in that space, which is how the metric tonne and the cubic meter ended up so conveniently paired. It is the unit of choice for water supply, gas, timber, concrete and shipping space, where freight is often quoted in CBM. For a picture, about 6.29 oil barrels or 264 US gallons fit in one, and an Olympic swimming pool, at least 2 meters deep, holds roughly 2,500 of them.

1 cubic meter = 1,000 liters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Cubic metre; Wikipedia: Olympic-size swimming pool; NIST Guide to the SI, Chapter 5: units outside the SI

Oil Barrel (bbl)

US customaryCurrent unit

Exactly 42 US gallons (158.987 L). The unit of crude oil trade since the 1860s Pennsylvania oil fields.

The oil barrel did not come from the oil industry's own design but from the barrels already lying around Pennsylvania. After Drake's well of 1859 started a boom, producers shipped crude in whatever containers were handy: whiskey barrels of around 40 gallons, plus 42 and 45 gallon casks. Buyers grew suspicious of the inconsistency, and around 1866 producers settled on the wine tierce of 42 gallons, two gallons bigger than the common whiskey barrel. An Oil City circular of August 1866 also promised an allowance of two gallons in every 40.

By 1872 the 42-gallon standard was firmly established, and US government bodies adopted it in 1882. The barrel is exactly 42 US gallons, about 159 liters, and remains the worldwide pricing unit for crude, even though many countries report volumes in cubic meters. EIA says Strait of Hormuz flows of 20 million barrels a day equal about a fifth of global consumption, implying roughly 100 million barrels a day. The abbreviation bbl has a disputed origin: a popular story links it to Standard Oil's blue barrels, but the abbreviation predates the oil industry.

1 oil barrel = 158.9872949 liters (approximately).

Sources: Wikipedia: Barrel (unit); NIST SP 811, Appendix B.8: conversion factors for volume; EIA: Today in Energy, Strait of Hormuz oil flows

Related conversions

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