$/bbl
per oil barrel
Cost per volumeexact by definition
Cost per barrel of oil, the barrel being exactly 42 US gallons or 0.158987294928 cubic metres. It is the quoted unit for crude oil worldwide, and the conversion is exact because the US gallon is exactly defined and only the volume is converted.
Watch out: Other trades use barrels of other sizes. A US beer barrel is 31 gallons, a US dry barrel about 26 gallons, and an imperial barrel 36 imperial gallons. Only the petroleum barrel is 42 US gallons.
| 1 $/bbl | 6.2898108 $/m³ |
Where the unit came from
The 42 gallon barrel was standardised by Pennsylvania oil producers in 1872, borrowed from the older English tierce used for wine and fish. Nothing is shipped in physical barrels any more, but the number outlived the container.
Solvers that use cost per volume