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Conversion factors relevant to petrochemical activities.

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Derivatives from gas bullet

BPAmoco Conversion bullet

Another for petroleum/gas

Table 1
Prefix Unit
Kilo 103
Mega 106
Giga 109
Tera 1012
Peta 1015
Metric Imperial
1 kilogram 2.204 pounds
1 tonne 1.10231 US short ton (2 000 lbs)
1 tonne 0.98421 UK long ton (2 240 pounds)
1 kilolitre 6.28981 barrels (bbls)
1 barrel (of oil, bbl) 158.987 litres 
42 US gallons
0.1364 tonnes
1 cubic metre (1 kilolitre) 35.3147 cubic feet
1 kilojoule 0.94781 British Thermal Units (Btus)
1 calorie 4.186 joules
Other  
1 cubic metre  35.3147 cubic feet

Table 2 Petroleum and coal
Mass or volume gas Energy & other
1 cubic metre of gas  38 megajoules as methane
44 megajoules as W.A. NWS LNG
1 billion cubic metres of natural gas 730 000 tonnes of LNG
1 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) Approx. 1 000 petajoules
Approx. 20 million tonnes
1 tonne of gas 1 333 cubic metres
1 terajoule 26 300 cubic metres of gas
0.929 million cubic feet of natural gas
17.63 tonnes of LNG
1 MCF (thousand cubic feet) of gas (and 1MMSFD = 1 million cubic feet per day)  28 317 cubic metres
19.39 tonne of LNG
1 057 Gigajoules
1.1 Terajoules
1 tonne of LNG 1 460 cubic metres (at 20ºC) (or 1 333 at 0ºC)
54.5 Gigajoules
9.5 bbl of Arab crude oil by energy equivalence
51.7 MMBTUs
1 tonne of crude oil 7.33 bbls
42.1 gigajoules
1 MMBTU 1.055 Gigajoules
3.6 gigajoule 1 MWh
1 petajoule (1 terajoule) ca. 20 000 tonnes (20 tonnes) gas
1 terajoule of gas per day ca. 7 200 tonnes per year.
1 million tonnes of LNG per year 1.333 billion cubic metres per year
3.65 million cubic metres of natural gas per day
100 MW power station (33% efficiency) ca. 25 terajoules per day (10 Gigajoules/1MWh)
Coal ca. 20 Gigajoules per tonne
Condensate ca. 32 Megajoules per Litre
Crude oil ca. 37 Megajoules per Litre
LNG ca 25 Megajoules per Litre
Natural gas ca. 38 Megajoules per Cubic Metre
Average Energy Conversion Factors
  U.S. Customary Unit Metric Equivalent
Crude oil 1 barrel 0.1364 metric tons
5.75 gigajoules
Coal 1 short ton 0.9072 metric tons
Natural gas 1 cubic foot 0.0283 cubic meters
Natural gas plant liquids 1 barrel 0.0862 metric tons
Btu/joule 1 Btu 1 055.1 joules
Petroleum products
Motor gasoline 1 barrel 0.1172 metric tons
Distillate fuel oil 1 barrel 0.1340 metric tons
Residual fuel oil 1 barrel 0.1502 metric tons
  cubic metre cubic foot gas million Btu therm gigajoule kilowatt hour cubic metre of LNG ton of LNG
1 cubic meter gas  1 35.3 0.036 0.36 0.038 10.54 0.00171 0.000725
1 cubic foot gas  0.0283 1 0.00102 0.0102 0.00108 0.299 0.00005 0.00002
1-million Btu  27.8 981 1 10 1.054 292.7 0.048 0.0192
1 therm  2.78 98.1 0.1 1 0.105448 29.27 0.0048 0.00192
1 gigajoule  26.3 930 0.95 9.5 1 277.5 0.045 0.018
1 kilowatt hour  0.0949 3.3 0.003415 0.03418 0.0036 1 0.000162 0.000065
1 cubic meter LNG  584 20 631 21.04 210.4 22.19 6,173 1 0.405
1 ton LNG  1,379 48 690 52 520 54.8 15 222 2.47 1
1 barrel Arabian Lt.  0.152 5 350 5.46 54.6 5.75 1 597 0.259 0.105
1 ton Arabian
Lt. 
1.111 39 218 40 400 42.2 11 708 1.9 0.769

Source: Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review 1995, DOE/EIA­0384(95) (Washington, DC, July 1996), Appendix B.

Gas in perspective

1TCF of gas could power the average family vehicle around the earth (40 000 kilometres) in excess of 10 million times.


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