Crude, sweet crude.
February 26th, 2008 by Grant in: Energy, Oil & GasI had a few teaser comments in my post on how Venezuela is cutting off their supply of crude oil to the United States, and I noted the low quality of the crude they export to us, and I touched on the refining requirements to process their oil.
So I thought I’d expand on this a bit and explain the different types of crude oil.
When it comes to crude oil, there are several different varieties, some of which are more familiar than others. For instance, sweet crude refers to hydrocarbons with relatively small amounts of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. The biggest trait behind sweet crude is the low sulfur content, which is typically 0.5% or less.
Sweet crude is most commonly used to produce gasoline.
Brent Crude is another classification of oil consisting of Brent Crude, Brent Sweet Light Crude, Oseberg and Forties.
The name ‘Brent’ comes from the formation layers - Broom, Rannoch, Etieve, Ness and TarbatOil - produced in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Brent blend is a light crude oil, though not as light as West Texas Intermediate (WTI). It typically contains approximately 0.37% of sulfur, classifying it as sweet crude, yet again not as sweet as WTI. Brent is ideal for production of gasoline and is generally refined in Northwest Europe.
Typical price difference per barrel is about $1 less than WTI, and $1 more than OPEC Basket (the weighted average of prices for petroleum blends produced by OPEC countries).
Sour crude oil contains the impurities hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon dioxide, or mercaptans. While all crude oil contains some impurities, when the total sulfide level in the oil is more than 1% the oil is called “sour”.
The impurities must be removed before this lower quality crude oil can be refined into gasoline, thereby increasing the cost of processing. However, sour crude is most frequently refined into heavier products such as diesel fuel.
Sour crude is extremely toxic and corrosive due to the high levels of hydrogen sulfide, and is fatal if inhaled.
As I alluded to in the previous post, Venezuela is a major producer of sour crude. But since it’s very expensive to refine and transport (due to its corrosive properties), its not a great loss to the United States if they want to take their low quality oil somewhere else.
Tags: brent crude | crude oil | sour crude | WTI
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March 2nd, 2008 at 4:11 am
Oil will never go below $85 again. In 2010 oil will be over $250 a barrel and gas will be $10 a gallon. Even though reserves are rising which should make oil prices drop the fact they don’t drop in price is because the political tensions are rising. With that you will either buy a hybrid which will still be expensive to operate or ride your bike or take the public transit. There are ways to reduce your fuel cost.