Barrels Per Day - B/D

Barrels per day (B/D) is a measure of oil output, represented by the number of barrels of oil produced in a single day. For example, you might hear "country ABC has the potential to produce five million barrels per day." The abbreviation "bbl/d" can also be used to represent this production measure. Often times there is an inverse correlation between the number of barrels produced on a daily basis and the price of oil.

The barrels-per-day (B/D) measure is commonly used in the oil spot markets, as prices are usually quoted in terms of dollars per barrel. One barrel of oil contains approximately 42 U.S. gallons, or 35 imperial gallons, and weighs approximately 0.134 tons.

Just because a country has the capacity to produce X number of barrels per day, it doesn't always mean they are producing that much. The price of oil is largely influenced by the currently available supply. The currently available supply is driven by the number of barrels per day each oil producing company creates. When the price of oil starts to fall, the world's oil producing countries may make agreements with each other to limit production until the price of oil stabilizes and returns to a higher level. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, is an entity founded in 1960 that consists of 12 member countries who cooperate with each other when producing and exporting their oil to the rest of the world. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has a large amount of influence over global barrels per day oil production and the price of oil worldwide.