- TOE also stands for Theory of Everything
The ton of oil equivalent (TOE) is a unit for measuring energy. It corresponds to 10 Gcalth or 41.868 GJ (41,868,000,000 joules), or 11.63 MWh. It is the rounded-off amount of energy that would be produced by burning one metric ton of crude oil. Since crude oil of different provenance will have a different chemical make-up and therefore give off varying amounts of heat when burnt, the value is conventional to a certain extent.
The TOE is commonly used for large amounts of energy, since it may be easier to understand in a practical context than the proper SI unit for energy, the joule.
A barrel of oil equivalent (BOE), also a unit of energy, contains approximately 0.146 TOE (i.e. there are approximately 6.841 BOE in a TOE).
A GTOE (gigaton of oil equivalent) is 1,000,000,000 tons of oil equivalent.
Note that some organisations use other conversion factors, such as:
- One TOE is 42 GJ
- One TOE is 7.11, 7.33, or 7.4 barrels of oil equivalent
See also