Oil Barrels to Metric Tablespoons (bbl to tbsp)

1 oil barrel equals 10,599.153 metric tablespoons (rounded).

1 oil barrel = 10,599.153 metric tablespoons

How to convert oil barrels to metric tablespoons

To convert oil barrels to metric tablespoons, multiply the number of oil barrels by 10,599.153. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply metric tablespoons by 0.00009434716156 (rounded).

metric tablespoons = oil barrels × 10,599.153

Example: 10 oil barrels = 105,991.53 metric tablespoons.

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

Metric Tablespoon (tbsp)

Cooking & barCurrent unit

Exactly 15 mL, used in most countries.

Fifteen milliliters is the working size of the tablespoon in most of the world, and it is a rounded figure. Older customary values were about 14.8 mL for the US and about 14.2 mL for the UK, and modern UK and US measuring spoons are both treated as 15 mL in most contexts. The tablespoon itself dates to the early 1700s, when it first appeared in place settings for soup.

The 15 mL spoon is a staple in recipes everywhere. Three metric teaspoons make a tablespoon, and 16 and two thirds make a 250 mL metric cup. Australia is the notable exception, using a 20 milliliter tablespoon and counting four teaspoons to it, so a recipe from one country can taste off in another. Check which spoon a cook has in mind: scoops of oil, honey or baking powder amount to a third more in Australia.

1 metric tablespoon = 0.015 liters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Tablespoon; Wikipedia: Metric cup

Related conversions

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