UNITS &

CONVERSIONS
 Units and Systems of Weights and Measures

The metric system British and U.S. System

The metric system is the The system of weights and

international system of weights measures in the British
and measures based on the Commonwealth countries and
meter and the kilogram. the U.S. system is based on
inch and pound

International
Oil field System
System of Units - SI
Units adopted in the
COMMON PRACTICE of the
oil field industry
Ref: Petroleum Engineering Handbook
 SI: the International System of Units

SI is a coherent system with seven base units for which names, symbols, and
definitions have been established.

The “base units”

units quantify seven base quantities that by convention are
regarded as dimensionally independent.

SI “derived units”
units are formed by combining base units according the algebraic
relations linking the corresponding quantities.

Equations between units of a coherent unit system contain as numerical factors

only the number 1. In a coherent system, the product or quotient of any two unit
quantities is the unit of the resulting quantity.
For example: unit area results when unit length is multiplied by unit length
1mx1m= 1 m2

SI is not identical with any of the former cgs, mks, etc systems of metric units but
is closely related to them and is an extension of and improvement over them.
Ref: Petroleum Engineering Handbook
 SI: the International System of Units

SI BASE QUANTITIES AND UNITS

SI Unit Letter
Base Quantity SI Unit Symbol Symbol
lenght meter m L
mass kilogram kg m
time second s t
electric current ampere A I
thermodynamic temperature kelvin K T
amount of substance mole mol n
luminous intensity candela cd Iv

SI COMMON DERIVED UNITS

SI Unit
Base Quantity SI Unit Symbol Forumle
velocity meter per second m/s
acceleration meter per square second m/s2
density kilogram per cubic meter kg/m3
force newton N kg·m/s2
pressure pascal Pa N/m2
 Oil Field System

The oil field system is a practical technical unit system.

As a technical system, it is a non coherent unit system.

The oil field system is based on both U.S. & British units, SI units and peculiar units
adopted only in oil field.

Examples of units adopted in the COMMON PRACTICE of the oil field industry:

PRESSURE
• psi: pound per square inch (British units)
• bar, which is 105 Pa (SI)

TEMPERATURE
Temperature is usually expressed in °C Celsius degree (c.g.s. System)
 Oil Field System
Examples of units adopted in the COMMON PRACTICE of the oil field industry:

OIL RELATIVE DENSITY

The API (American Petroleum Institute) gravity is a measure of the relative
density of a petroleum liquid and the density of water.
It is used to compare the relative densities of petroleum liquids.
Although mathematically API gravity has no units, it is referred to as
being in “degrees”.

PERMEABILITY
In the SI the permeability is expressed in [m2]
As common practice, permeability is expressed in millidarcy [md]

1 darcy: 103 millidarcy

1 darcy: 0.986923 10-12 m2

 Key units

Base quantity S.I. c.g.s Oil field system

Length m cm ft (foot) - in (inch)

Mass kg g lb (pound)

Time s s h (hour)

Temperature K °C °R

Derived quantity S.I. c.g.s. Oil field system

Force N dyn lbF

Pressure Pa barye psi

c.g.s = centimeter gram second

 SI: the International System of Units

Multiplication Factor SI Prefix SI Prefix Simbol

1 000 000 000 000 000 000 = 1018 exa E
1 000 000 000 000 000 = 1015 peta P
1 000 000 000 000 = 1012 tera T
1 000 000 000 = 109 giga G
multiples 1 000 000 = 106 mega M
1 000 = 103 kilo k
100 = 102 hecto h
10 = 101 deka da
0.1 = 10-1 deci d
0.01 = 10-2 centi c
0.001 = 10-3 milli m
submultiples 0.000 001 = 10-6 micro μ
0.000 000 001 = 10-9 nano n
0.000 000 000 001 = 10-12 pico p
0.000 000 000 000 001 = 10-15 femto f
0.000 000 000 000 000 001 = 10-18 atto a
 Units prefixes

Keep in mind !!

One particular warning is required about these prefixes:

•in the SI system:

• k (kilo) stand for 103 (thousands)
• M (mega) stand for 106 (millions)

•in the Oil Field industry:

• M have been used for designating 103 (thousands) of gas
volumes
• MM have been used for designating 106 (millions) of gas
volumes
 Time units

Prefix
Nomenclature Value
Symbol

thousandth of second ms 10-3 s

Submultiple of unit
hundredth of second cs 10-2 s

minutes min 60 s

Multiple of unit hours h 3600 s

days d 86400 s
CONVERSIONS
 LENGTH - conversion factors

1 ft = 0.3048 m 1 ft = 12 in

Calculate:

1 in = 0.0254 m = 2.5 cm = 25.4 mm

Area

1 ft2 = 0.09290304 m2 = 144 in2

1 in2 = 645.16 mm2

Volume

1 ft3 ≈ 0.0283 m3

Generally ft3 express gas volumes.

The liquid volumes are expressed using:

1 gal (gallon) = 3.785412 dm3 = 0.003785412 m3

1 bbl (barrel) = 42 gal = 158.98 dm3 ≈ 0.159 m3

 MASS & TEMPERATURE- conversion factors

MASS
1 lbm = 0.4536 kgm

TEMPERATURE

Absolute temperature

°C = Celsius degree K = Kelvin degree K = 273.15 + °C

°F = Fahrenheit degree °R = Rankine degree °R = 459.67 + °F

9 5
°F = 32 + °C K= °R Conversion factors
5 9
 FORCE - conversion factors

In the International System:

• force is expressed in N (Newton) (N)=(kgm)(m)
(s2)
• mass in expressed in kgm

In the practical engineering system:

• force is expressed in kgf

Keep in mind: difference between force and mass !!

kgf (force) and kgm (mass) numerically are the same, but they are relate to very
different concepts

1 kgf = 9.80665 N

1 lbf = 0.4536 kgf ≈ 4.448 N

 PRESSURE - conversion factors

Force
Pressure =
Area

The SI unit for pressure is the Pascal (newton per square meter):
N
Pa =
m2
In cgs system the pressure unit is:

atm = 101325 Pa

In Oil Field industry the pressure is commonly expressed in:

lbf
psi =
in2
or bar = 105 Pa

Other pressure units are: kgf

kilogram-force per square meter
m2
kgf
kilogram-force per square centimeter
cm2
 PRESSURE - conversion factors

Keep in mind !!

Pressure measurements can be:

• “absolute”: above zero

ex: barsa, psia Just add atmospheric
pressure!!

• “relative”: above atmospheric pressure

ex: bar, psi
 PRESSURE – ex. 1

Starting from:
lbf
1 PSI = 1
in2

Calculate the following conversion factors:

kgf kgf lbf lbf

1 Pa = 1.01972 10-5 = 0.101972 = 0.000145038 = 0.0208854
cm2 m2 in2 ft2

kgf kgf lbf lbf

1 atm = 1.03323 = 10332.3 = 14.6959 = 2116.22 = 1.01325 bar
cm2 m2 in2 ft2
 DENSITY - conversion factors

Mass
density =
Volume

The SI unit for density is:

kgm
density =
m3

In cgs system the pressure unit is:

gm
density =
cm3

In Oil Field industry the pressure is commonly expressed in:

lbm
density =
ft3
 DENSITY – ex. 2

In the International System water density is equal to:

kgm
ρw = 1000
m3

Calculate the water density value referred to cgs e Oil Field industry.

gm
ρw = 1
cm3

lbm
ρw ≈ 62.43
ft3