Units of Measurement
Which unit system underlies the data, and why standardize units?
Reported figures follow the International System of Units (SI), the metric standard used throughout scientific and industrial practice. Standardizing on a single system keeps quantities directly comparable across countries, regardless of local measurement conventions, and gives every model and calculation one common basis to operate on internally, instead of reconciling mixed units case by case for every country and source.
How are imperial and metric units reconciled?
Imperial and other non-SI units — covering length, area, volume, mass, pressure, temperature, time, and energy — are first converted to their SI equivalents using fixed conversion factors; the factor for every individual unit is set out in the
The conversion also runs in reverse at publication: once a figure has been modeled on the common SI basis, it is converted back to the unit conventions ordinarily used in the country being reported, so readers see values in measurements they recognize.
The SI conversions on this page are fixed and universal, applied consistently everywhere. Commodity-specific physical properties needed to convert between mass, volume, and energy bases for a given fuel — such as a typical density or net calorific value — vary by commodity and grade rather than following one fixed factor, so where published, they are reference data for a specific assessment and belong in the Energy Prices & Markets Assessments Catalog rather than in this universal conversion table; the typical net calorific value used for each covered energy commodity is set out in
What is the unit conversion table for every quantity?
Summary
The table below states the conversion factor to the SI base unit for every unit used across length, area, volume, mass, pressure, temperature, time, and energy.
| Quantity | Name | Symbol | Relation to SI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | Meter (SI unit) | m | — |
| Inches | in | = 0.0254 m | |
| Feet | ft | = 12 in = 0.3048 m | |
| Kilometer | km | = 1,000 m | |
| Miles | mi | = 5,280 ft = 1,609 m | |
| Area | Square meter (SI unit) | m² | — |
| Square inches | in² | = 6.4516 × 10⁻⁴ m² | |
| Square feet | ft² | = 144 in² = 0.093 m² | |
| Hectare | ha | = 10⁴ m² | |
| Square kilometer | km² | = 10⁶ m² | |
| Volume | Cubic meter (SI unit) | m³ | — |
| Cubic feet | ft³ | = 0.0283 m³ | |
| Liter | l, L | = 1 dm³ = 10⁻³ m³ | |
| Gallon | gal | = 3.785 × 10⁻³ m³ | |
| Barrel | bbl (oil) | = 0.1589 m³ | |
| Mass | Kilogram (SI unit) | kg | — |
| Pound | lb | = 0.4536 kg | |
| Metric ton | mt | = 10³ kg | |
| Short ton | st | = 907.185 kg | |
| Pressure | Pascal (SI unit) | Pa | = 1 N/m² |
| Bar | bar | = 10⁵ Pa | |
| Atmospheric pressure | atm | = 1.01325 bar = 1.01325 × 10⁵ Pa | |
| Pounds per square inch | psi | = 6,894.76 Pa | |
| Temperature | Kelvin (SI unit) | K | — |
| Celsius | °C | K = °C + 273.15 | |
| Rankine | R | K = 0.556 × R | |
| Fahrenheit | °F | K = (°F − 32) × 0.556 + 273.15 | |
| Time | Seconds (SI unit) | s | — |
| Hour | h | = 3,600 s | |
| Day | d | = 24 h = 86,400 s | |
| Year | yr | = 365 d = 8,760 h = 3.154 × 10⁷ s | |
| Energy | Joule (SI unit) | J | = 1 N·m |
| British thermal unit | Btu | = 1,055.06 J | |
| Kilowatt-hour | kWh | = 3.6 × 10⁶ J | |
| Calorie | cal | = 4.1868 J | |
| Tonne of oil equivalent | toe | = 11,630 kWh |
The SI unit of each quantity is marked in its row; every other unit's relation column states how it converts to that base. Product-specific units and notation — not part of this universal table — are covered separately below.
Which additional units appear in specific product reports?
Beyond the SI conversions above, a few additional units and notation conventions are used within individual product datasets rather than across the board:
What net calorific values are used for energy commodities?
Summary
Net calorific value (NCV) — the energy released per unit of mass when a fuel is combusted, excluding the latent heat of water vapor released as steam — is a commodity- and grade-specific physical property rather than a fixed conversion factor. Energy Prices & Markets applies a typical NCV to each priced commodity; the table below states the average value used across the grades covered for each of the report's energy commodities.
Because 1 GJ/mt is numerically equal to 1 MJ/kg, the values below apply directly in either unit.
Electricity, the twelfth commodity the report covers, is not a combusted fuel and carries no NCV. Where a range is shown, the spread reflects the different grades priced for that commodity (e.g., raw versus thermal coal, or LNG versus town gas) — the average blends across all grades assessed. The exact NCV used in a specific assessment — for a specific country, grade, and delivery basis — is stated on that assessment's data sheet in the Energy Prices & Markets Assessments Catalog, alongside density and other specification fields.