Oil Barrels to Cubic Centimeters (bbl to cm³)

1 oil barrel equals 158,987.2949 cubic centimeters (rounded).

1 oil barrel = 158,987.2949 cubic centimeters

How to convert oil barrels to cubic centimeters

To convert oil barrels to cubic centimeters, multiply the number of oil barrels by 158,987.2949. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply cubic centimeters by 0.00000628981077 (rounded).

cubic centimeters = oil barrels × 158,987.2949

Example: 10 oil barrels = 1,589,872.949 cubic centimeters.

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

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

Cubic Centimeter (cm³)

Metric (SI)Current unit

Exactly one milliliter. Used for engine displacement (as 'cc') and in medicine.

Cubic centimeter is the volume of a cube one centimeter on each side, and it belonged to the old centimeter-gram-second system of units, in which one cubic centimeter of water was meant to weigh about one gram. Its famous abbreviation, cc, is not an SI symbol at all. The official symbol is cm³, yet cc stuck in medicine, cooking and engineering because it is quick to write and say.

A cubic centimeter equals exactly one milliliter, so the two names are interchangeable and which one you meet depends on the field. Doses are often written in cc. Motorcyclists, scooter makers and engine builders use it for displacement: the swept volume is the bore area times the stroke times the number of cylinders, so a 1,000 cc sport bike can move eight times as much air per cycle as a 125 cc scooter. One cubic inch is 16.38706 cubic centimeters, which lets Americans and Europeans compare engines.

1 cubic centimeter = 0.001 liters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Cubic centimetre; Wikipedia: Litre

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