Crude oil

Crude oil or petroleum is found naturally underground and, after extraction, is converted into fuel and other products. Oil is a fossil fuel, meaning it has been produced during the decomposition of organic matter for millions of years.

Classification of crude oil

Classification based on geographical location

There are three types of reference crude oil in the world for pricing, including Brent oil, Texas oil and Oman oil. Brent oil contains a mixture of 15 types of North Sea oil, from Scotland to Norway, mostly exported to Europe.

Texas Oil is a high quality and light oil product of the US state of Texas that supplies the oil needed by North America. Oman oil or Dubai oil is also the reference for oil pricing in the Persian Gulf. OPEC oil is another pricing reference that Iran and most Asian oil exporters are members of.

Classification based on API grade

The API standard is a unit for comparing the density of crude oil with water. There are different classifications for crude oil based on API grade, but generally crude oil below fifteen API degrees is known as heavy oil and above fifteen as light oil. Heavy oil contains sulfur and metals and requires more refining than light oil

Classification based on sulfur content

Sulfur is present as a harmful impurity in crude oil and causes corrosion of metals and air pollution. Crude oil that has more than 0.5% sulfur is known as sour oil and if it is less than this amount, it is known as sweet oil. Fresh oil is considered a better oil because of its greater purity and without harming the environment

Types of crude oil

There are different types of crude oil, of which more than seventy are commercially produced, traded and traded in the market. No two crude oils can be found that have exactly the same properties, but it is possible to obtain properties through which, by comparing them with the properties of major crude oils such as Brent, WTI and Dubai, a reasonable price can be obtained for them. Available in the market. Among these characteristics are lightness, heaviness, sourness and sweetness.

The index (API) is commonly used to indicate the lightness and weight of crude oil. Crude oil with an API above 30 is called light crude oil, 20 to 30 is called medium crude oil and below 20 is called heavy crude oil. There are also crude oils with an API of more than 44, such as “Ecofisk” crude oil, which are called very light.

In addition to “hydrocarbons”, crude oil also contains impurities such as nitrogen, sulfur, salts and metals. The amount of sulfur in oil is one of the most important factors influencing its price. Due to its acidic nature, hydrogen sulfide increases the corrosion of distillation devices and, due to its toxicity, causes irreparable damage to the environment. Hence, its removal from crude oil is an undeniable necessity and at the same time costly.

“Sweet oil” refers to crude oil with a sulfur content of less than 0.5 percent and “sour oil” refers to crude oil with a sulfur content of more than 0.5 percent. The amount of sulfur in crude oil is typically between 0.1 and 3% by weight of crude oil. Most sweet cream oils are light and most sour cream oils are heavy.

The value of crude oil is usually divided into two criteria: specific gravity and sulfur content. Oils that have a lower specific gravity, viscosity, and density are called light oils, and oils that have a higher specific gravity, viscosity, and density are called heavy oils. Oils with less sulfur are also called sweet oil and oils with more sulfur are called sour oil. Young field oils are usually heavier and have higher sulfur content due to their low maturity. Extraction, handling and refining of light and sweet oils are easier and less expensive, and more products such as gasoline, naphtha, kerosene and jet fuels derived from kerosene, and high quality diesel can be obtained from them, so these types of oils Most are preferred by refineries and have higher prices. The international oil price indexes of West Texas Intermediate and Brent are light and sweet. But the amount of sour and heavy oils in the world’s oil reserves is much higher

Lavan crude oil is one of the best types of light crude oil in the world that many countries are looking for this type of oil

Brent crude oil

It is one of the most well-known indicators of crude oil, which is used as a basis for pricing many types of crude oil in world markets. Brent crude oil is a mixture of oil extracted from the Brent and Ninan networks in the North Sea, which is transported and loaded through the pipeline network to the Salom Wu oil terminal, the largest export port in the North Sea in Britain. The API grade of Brent mix is ​​more than 38 and its sulfur content is 0.41%, so it is in the light and sweet crude oil category.

March crude oil

Mars crude oil is a type of heavy and sour crude oil that is produced in the United States and the Gulf of Mexico and loaded and exported in the port of Clovelly. Its API grade is 29 and its sulfur content is 1.9%

Minas crude oil

Minas crude oil, also known as Sumatra Light crude oil, is one of the leading crude oils on the Asian market, produced offshore in the Indonesian island of Samatra and exported from the port of Duma. This crude oil with API grade, 35.8% sulfur is one of the types of light and sweet oil.

Morban Crude Oil

Murban crude oil with API grade, 39.3 and the presence of 0.8% sulfur is one of the types of light and relatively sweet crude oil. This crude oil is produced in the United Arab Emirates and shipped from the port of Jebel Dhanna.

Topis crude oil

Topis crude oil with an API grade of nearly 46 and a sulfur content of 0.03% is produced in the Trengganu offshore area of ​​Malaysia. It should be noted that this type of crude oil, unlike Brent crude oil, is not traded in the oil market, but it is one of the key types of oil for pricing in the Asian region. Australia uses Tapis crude to price imported crude oil and even its petroleum products due to its extensive trade ties with the Asian region.