Oil Barrels to Cubic Feet (bbl to ft³)

1 oil barrel equals 5.614583333 cubic feet (rounded).

1 oil barrel = 5.614583333 cubic feet

How to convert oil barrels to cubic feet

To convert oil barrels to cubic feet, multiply the number of oil barrels by 5.614583333. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply cubic feet by 0.1781076067 (rounded).

cubic feet = oil barrels × 5.614583333

Example: 10 oil barrels = 56.14583333 cubic feet.

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 Foot (ft³)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

Exactly 28.316846592 liters (1,728 cubic inches). Used for refrigerator capacity, gas volume and shipping.

Cubic foot grew from the foot itself, a length unit with ancient origins, cubed into a volume of 1,728 cubic inches. Since the international foot was fixed at exactly 0.3048 meters, it equals exactly 28.316846592 liters. It sits at the center of the Anglo-American cubic system, a cube you could build from twelve-inch rulers, and it is about 7.48 US gallons or 6.23 imperial gallons.

In practice the cubic foot is the language of capacity and flow. Natural gas and household water are often billed per hundred cubic feet, written CCF, while gas reserves are reported in thousands and trillions of cubic feet. Rivers are measured in cubic feet per second, called cusecs, and fans and air compressors are rated in cubic feet per minute. To picture one, imagine a box a foot on each side holding a bit under seven and a half gallon jugs of water.

1 cubic foot = 28.31684659 liters (approximately).

Sources: Wikipedia: Cubic foot; NIST SP 811, Appendix B.8: conversion factors for volume

Related conversions

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