Oil Barrels to Imperial Pints (bbl to pt (UK))

1 oil barrel equals 279.778526 imperial pints (rounded).

1 oil barrel = 279.778526 imperial pints

How to convert oil barrels to imperial pints

To convert oil barrels to imperial pints, multiply the number of oil barrels by 279.778526. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply imperial pints by 0.003574255731 (rounded).

imperial pints = oil barrels × 279.778526

Example: 10 oil barrels = 2,797.78526 imperial pints.

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

Imperial Pint (pt (UK))

Imperial (British)Current unit

Exactly 568.26125 mL (20 imperial fluid ounces). The pint of beer and milk in the UK and Ireland.

The imperial pint derives from Parliament's 1824 decision to replace Britain's assorted gallons with one defined by ten pounds of water at 62 degrees Fahrenheit. A pint is one eighth of that gallon and holds 20 imperial fluid ounces, or exactly 568.26125 milliliters. The word reached English from French pinte, which in modern French now means half a liter, while Canadian French uses it for the imperial quart.

That pint is about 20 percent larger than the US liquid pint of 473 mL, so a pint in Dublin or London buys noticeably more beer than one in Chicago. When Britain metricated, the pint was kept for draught beer and cider and for milk in returnable bottles, and draught beer has to be served in measured, stamped glasses. Culturally the pint is more than a measure: it is shorthand for a night at the pub.

1 imperial pint = 0.56826125 liters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Pint; UK Weights and Measures Act 1985, Schedule 1

Related conversions

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