boe conversion 1

[honerus]

Hi,

Could anyone possibly tell me how to convert cf and bbl into boe. Is this somehow connected with heating value or it is only volumetric conversion?

Thanks in advance

 

[MortenA]

conervting to BOE is an evergy conversion.

Best regards

Morten

 

[BigInch]

It is an equivalent barrel of oil defined in terms of heat content of another combustible. The US Internal Revenue Service defines it as equal to 5.8E6 BTU = 6.1178632E9 J or about 1.70 MWh and is approximately equal to 6000 cf of natural gas.

**********************
"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies)

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.live.com/

 

[honerus]

How to understand bbl in the meaning of one boe, is it equal?

 

[BigInch]

Usually 42 US gallons = 1 BBL oil = 5.8E6 BTU

**********************
"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies)

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.live.com/

 

[mbeychok]

honerus:

British Petroleum provides an online, multi-page spreadsheet entitled "BP Statistical Review of World Energy, June 2006" available at here

The next-to-last sheet of the BP spreadsheet provides a great many conversions, one of which is that 1 BOE = 5, 610 cubic feet of natural gas.

Milton Beychok
(Visit me at www.air-dispersion.com)
.

 

[honerus]

Thank you...

 

[BigInch]

Actually there is no standard natural gas stream exiting from a well, as BTU content varies, which is why IRS does not give an equivalent volume of natural gas and why an accurate BOE for any given field or well stream must be calculated based on the actual BTU content of the stream.

**********************
"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies)

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.live.com/

 

[MortenA]

I gave Biginch a star for the following reason:

You can only use the BP relation if you have the same gas and oil as them! The conversion fact is an energy constant as i said initially - you need ot dertemine your gas energy equivaltent and then convert that to the oil energy equivalent!

If accuracy is unimportant then by all means do it "the BP way"

Best regards

Morten

 

[BigInch]

Thanks Morten.

Natural Gas is not 100% methane and other component gases makeup varies. Methane is a principal component of natural gas, a mixture containing somewhere around 75% methane (CH4), 15% ethane (C2H6), and 5% other hydrocarbons, such as propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10). Percentages of those primary components vary from field to field and often from well to well, so .. so does BTU content. In west Texas, OK, some wells have helium and in and SE Colorado, some wells even have quite a very high nitrogen content, and there are a lot of other possibles, CO2, H2S, etc. Nothing like 30% N2 to knock the BTU count down.

**********************
"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies)

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.live.com/

 

[mbeychok]

BigInch:

Of course, there is no standard natural gas composition. I agree with you.

However, if you will look at the BP spreadsheet again and more carefully, you will see that it not only defines 1 BOE as 5,610 cubic feet of natural gas but it also defines 1 BOE as 5.8 x 10⁶ BTU which is exactly the same as the U.S. IRS number that you quoted. That equates to an average natural gas heat content of 1036 Btu per cubic foot which is quite reasonable.

If the original poster (honerus) only wants an average conversion factor, he can use either your "approximately 6,000 cubic feet" or BP's "5610 cubic feet". They are both reasonable. If he wants an exact conversion factor for a specific natural gas, then he really should calculate it from the composition of his specific gas.

Milton Beychok
(Visit me at www.air-dispersion.com)
.

 

[zdas04]

Isn't it interesting that we all agree that there is no standard natural gas composition, but we all buy into the IRS definition of the energy content of a barrel of oil? The 5.8X10^6 BTU/bbl number was based on a few hundred samples of West Texas Intermediate. The samples had a wide variation, and the energy content variation from field to field is even larger, but oil sells by volume and gas sells by energy content.

The industry, government, and investors have all agreed to ignore the variation in oil energy-content and assume that a bbl is a bbl is a bbl. At the same time operators of gas fields must convert well-level production and reserves to BOE based on each well's energy content so that a pretty good number can be added to nonsense.

Ah, your government in action (it isn't just the U.S., every producing country does the same stuff).

David

 

[BigInch]

Fortunately we know differently and BTUs don't affect the flowrate very much, at least until it gets to the burners. I used the IRS definition, because nobody can argue that .. and win.

The IRS does anything they want to do, including setting BTUs on a barrel. That's the scarey part!

**********************
"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies)

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.live.com/

 

[zdas04]

The IRS using the definition is one thing, it has also gone on to the SEC and DOE's EIA so the data that everyone relies on is pretty muddy.

David