Light sweet crude oil is an especially sought-after form of crude oil which can be used to make products like gasoline, kerosene, and high-quality diesel. Although many consumers think that most crude oil is essentially the same, in fact there are a number of classifications for crude oil which are used to divide the oil by impurities and consistency. Some forms of crude oil are considered more valuable than others, with light sweet crude typically commanding the highest prices on the market.
Light sweet crude oil is the type of oil most preferred by oil refineries and oil companies because it contains exceptionally high amounts of the chemicals needed to produce gasoline, kerosene and high-quality crude oil. It is “light” because it has low density and flows at a temperature of 60 degrees.
Density is the heaviness of the oil and is generally measured by the American Petrochemical Institute (API) gravity. Typically, light crude has an API gravity greater than 10 and will float on water. (Heavier crude has an API gravity of less than 10 and sinks in water.
“Sweet” is a description of how much sulfur is in the oil. In the 19th century, oil workers would taste and smell a small amount of oil to determine its quality. Crude oil with low sulfur content had a mildly sweet taste and pleasant smell. Today, oil workers can measure the sulfur content of an oil sample and it is classified as sweet if it contains less than 0.5% sulfur.
Light sweet crude contains lower levels of other impurities such as wax. This allows it to flow at room temperature. The lack of impurities and the lower density of the oil mean that it is easier to get out of the ground, transport and refine than heavier crude oils. But because of its popularity it is more expensive to buy.
Light sweet crude oil is produced in many areas around the world. Most of it is found in the North Sea, Northern Europe, Norway and the United Kingdom. There are also deposits in the United States in the Appalachian Basin and in West Texas. Other countries that produce light sweet crude oil include Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, India, Vietnam, and Australia.
Light sweet crude oil is an especially sought-after form of crude oil which can be used to make products like gasoline, kerosene, and high-quality diesel. Although many consumers think that most crude oil is essentially the same, in fact there are a number of classifications for crude oil which are used to divide the oil by impurities and consistency. Some forms of crude oil are considered more valuable than others, with light sweet crude typically commanding the highest prices on the market. Sweet crude is a form of crude oil which has a sulfur content below .5%. Typically sweet crude also has lower levels of other impurities, and the name is a reference to the flavor; sweet crude has a faintly sweet taste, for those willing to give it a try. (Although it should be noted that actual ingestion of sweet crude oil is not advised.) The lower levels of impurities in sweet crude oil make it easier to process, because the resulting products do not need to be filtered as extensively. In contr