Sweet crude oil

Sweet crude oil is a type of petroleum. The New York Mercantile Exchange designates petroleum with less than 0.5% sulfur as sweet.[1][2]

Petroleum containing higher levels of sulfur is called sour crude oil.[3]

In the Annual Energy Outlook crude type estimates, all Alaska and Gulf of Mexico oil production is assumed to be API gravity 27-35 degrees and medium sour. Northeast crude oil production consists of approximately 30% API 27-35 medium-sour and 60% API 35-40 sour. The residual production is API 35-40 sweet. West Coast region production, coming from California, is primarily API<27 sour. Per the "Regions and crude types" discussion above, California production is categorized by its own crude type.

Sweet crude oil contains small amounts of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. High-quality, low-sulfur crude oil is commonly used for processing into gasoline and is in high demand, particularly in industrialized nations. Light sweet crude oil is the most sought-after version of crude oil as it contains a disproportionately large fraction that is directly processed (fractionation) into gasoline (naphtha), kerosene, and high-quality diesel (gas oil).

The term sweet originates from the fact that a low level of sulfur provides the oil with a relatively sweet taste and pleasant smell, compared to sulfurous oil. Nineteenth-century prospectors would taste and smell small quantities of oil to determine its quality.[4]

  1. ^ "Oil markets explained". BBC News. 'Sweet' crude is defined as having a sulphur content of less than 0.5%.
  2. ^ Szymon Wlazlowski , Björn Hagströmer & Monica Giulietti (2011). "Causality in crude oil prices". Applied Economics. 43 (24). Applied Economics (Vol. 43 Issue24): 3337–3347. doi:10.1080/00036841003636250. S2CID 154524771. Crudes are considered to be sweet when the sulphur content does not exceed 0.5% and sour otherwise.
  3. ^ Lord, David L. (2014-11-01). "Crude Oil Properties Overview". OSTI 1504035. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ "Description of the MC 252 Crude Oil" (PDF). Oil Spill Academic Task Force, State of Florida. Retrieved January 28, 2011.