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· 19 Jul 2022

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How Many Gallons Are In a Barrel of Oil?

Now you might have heard about countries exporting barrels of oil and you must have been wondering, just how many gallons do these barrel contain? How much oil can each barrel carry? If you are in this category, read on cause your questions are about to be answered.

Abarrel is one of various units of volume involved in various contexts; I'm sure we know of Fluid barrels (U.S and U.K beer barrel), dry barrel, oil barrel and many others. The name barrel original from the French word 'baril'.
The oil barrel measurement was established in the oil fields of early Pennsylvania. There were no standard container for oil during the earlier days of oil production, they used barrels of different sizes and shapes to store and transport oil products. But this brought about a bit of concern among traders as there was no standard measurement and you couldn't tell the exact volume of the oil.
The standard oil barrel was firmly defined as 42 US-gallons in the year 1872. The Association of petroleum producers officially approved this standard in the same year and in 1882, it was later adopted by the U.S. Bureau of mines and the Geological Survey.

There are 42 whole gallons per barrel of oil and this measurement has been in use since its adoption by the U.S. in 1872. The common wooden barrel used for carrying liquids at that time has the same measurement as 42 gallons.
Light vs. Heavy Oil

Calculating the density of oil is a basic requirement inorder to precisely obtain an accurate measurement of the quantity of oil in a barrel.
Density is mass per unit of volume and it is directly proportional to pressure and temperature. The American Petroleum Institute has its standard for pressure which is 14.696 psi and its standard for temperature as 60 degrees Fahrenheit. These values are considered to be the basic requirement for a standard amount of oil that occupies one barrel of oil. The volume remains constant with change in pressure but the mass changes with the change in pressure.
API gravity is used as the indicator of the lightness or heaviness of the oil. It is the inverse of the density comparative to water. As the API gravity increases, the oil becomes lighter.
The lower API gravity, the denser or heavier the oil.
After successful determination of the API gravity of oil, formulas can be applied to evaluate density. These calculations are utilized by industry to improve accuracy and attain a constant measurement.
Products gotten from one barrel of oil.

According to statistics, each barrel of crude oil results in products as follows:

1.    Refined Motor Gasoline (51.4% – this value is slightly higher than the national average)
2.    Jet Fuel (12.3%)
3.    Marketable Coke (5.0%)
4.    Still Gas (5.4%)
5.    Asphalt and Road Oil (1.7%)
6.    Lubricants (0.9%)
7.    Residual Fuel Oil (3.3%)
8.    Liquid Refinery Gas (2.8%)
9.    Distillate Fuel Oil (15.3%)
10.    Other Refined Products (1.5%)
Skills needed to Accurately Measure Oil.
Measurement experts need to have a basic knowledge of how to measure oil  accurately. The key factors include:

●    Volume gauging
●    API gravity determination
●    Temperature determination
●    Proving (Mass, Volumetric, and Meters)
●    Water determination
●    Basic Calculations and formulars.

Conclusion!!
There are other international units of measurements such as 159 liters when the metric system is used or 35 imperial gallons from the U.K. measurement system.
With the recent advancement of the oil industry, oil is not just measured based on volume. The density and other factors also have to be considered as density tends to be a better indicator of the value of oil. #oil #measure #how #barrel