An oil tanker can hold anywhere from tens of thousands to several million barrels of oil, depending heavily on its size and class.

Typical capacities

  • Smaller product tankers (General Purpose, Medium Range) usually carry about 70,000–345,000 barrels of refined products such as gasoline or diesel.
  • Long Range tankers (LR1, LR2) commonly carry roughly 310,000–615,000 barrels of crude oil or products.
  • Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) typically transport about 1.9–2.2 million barrels of crude oil.
  • Ultra‑large crude carriers (ULCCs) and the very biggest ships can reach around 2–4 million barrels of crude, though these are rare in active service.

Quick rule of thumb

  • For a “normal” big ocean‑going crude carrier people often mean a VLCC, which is roughly 2 million barrels of oil when fully loaded.
  • Smaller coastal or product tankers hold closer to 100,000–300,000 barrels , far less than the super‑tankers that make headlines.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.