Bbl
Abbreviation for barrel. The standard measurement for liquid petroleum and crude oil products. This is the equivalent of 42 U.S. gallons.
BOE
Abbreviation for barrels of oil equivalent. Amount of energy resource equal to one barrel of oil on energy basis.
How it’s important to us
These terms are important in understanding how hydrocarbons are measured. Liquid barrels are used not only to measure oil and liquid crude, but are also frequently used to track the amount of water a well is producing. BOE is a useful term to understand, as it is commonly used to track the aggregate production of both oil & gas from a single well. It is also frequently used by non-U.S. companies since they do not measure gas in “thousand cubic feet (Mcf)” increments. The typical conversion from Mcf to BOE falls around 6 Mcf to 1 barrel. A well that produced 10 barrels and 30 Mcf of gas in a day would have produced 15 BOE. Interesting to note, however, is that while the energy equivalence ratio is about 1:6 (barrels:Mcf) the current price differential is heavily weighted towards oil, with crude oil around $100 / barrel and gas at less than $4 / Mcf.
