Light crude oil is liquid

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

that has a low

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...

and flows freely at room temperature. It has a low

viscosity The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to deformation at a given rate. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness": for example, syrup has a higher viscosity than water. Viscosity quantifies the inte ...

, low

specific gravity Relative density, or specific gravity, is the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity for liquids is nearly always measured with respect to water at its densest ...

and high

API gravity The American Petroleum Institute gravity, or API gravity, is a measure of how heavy or light a petroleum liquid is compared to water: if its API gravity is greater than 10, it is lighter and floats on water; if less than 10, it is heavier and sinks ...

due to the presence of a high proportion of light

hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ...

fractions A fraction (from la, fractus, "broken") represents a part of a whole or, more generally, any number of equal parts. When spoken in everyday English, a fraction describes how many parts of a certain size there are, for example, one-half, eight ...

. It generally has a low

wax Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to giv ...

content. Light crude oil receives a higher

price A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good" in the ...

than

heavy crude oil Heavy crude oil (or extra heavy crude oil) is highly-viscous oil that cannot easily flow from production wells under normal reservoir conditions. It is referred to as "heavy" because its density or specific gravity is higher than that of light cru ...

commodity markets A commodity market is a market that trades in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products, such as cocoa, fruit and sugar. Hard commodities are mined, such as gold and oil. Futures contracts are the oldest way of investing ...

because it produces a higher percentage of

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

and

diesel fuel Diesel fuel , also called diesel oil, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a result of compression of the inlet air and ...

when converted into products by an

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, lique ...

Varying standards

The clear cut definition of ''light'' and ''heavy'' crude varies because the classification is based more on practical grounds than theoretical. The

New York Mercantile Exchange The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is a commodity futures exchange owned and operated by CME Group of Chicago. NYMEX is located at One North End Avenue in Brookfield Place in the Battery Park City section of Manhattan, New York City. T ...

(NYMEX) defines light crude oil for domestic U.S. oil as having an API gravity between 37° API (840 kg/m³) and 42° API (816 kg/m³), while it defines light crude oil for non-U.S. oil as being between 32° API (865 kg/m³) and 42° API (816 kg/m³). The

National Energy Board The National Energy Board was an independent economic regulatory agency created in 1959 by the Government of Canada to oversee "international and inter-provincial aspects of the oil, gas and electric utility industries". Its head office was located ...

of Canada defines light crude oil as having a density less than 875.7 kg/m³ (API gravity greater than 30.1° API). The government of Alberta, the province which produces most of the oil in Canada, disagrees and defines it as oil with a density less than 850 kg/m³ (API gravity greater than 35° API) The Mexican state oil company, Pemex, defines light crude oil as being between 27° API (893 kg/m³) and 38° API (835 kg/m³). This variation in definition occurred because countries such as Canada and Mexico tend to have heavier crude oils than are commonly found in the United States, whose large oil fields historically produced lighter oils than are found in many other countries. Canada also uses the SI of units to measure oil rather than

American oil industry Petroleum has been a major industry in the United States since shortly after the oil discovery in the Oil Creek area of Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859. The industry includes exploration, production, processing (refining), transportati ...

conventional units, and the base temperature for density calculations is different in Canada at than the US at , resulting in slightly different density values.

Examples of light crude oils

A wide variety of

benchmark crude oils Benchmark may refer to: Business and economics * Benchmarking, evaluating performance within organizations * Benchmark price * Benchmark (crude oil), oil-specific practices Science and technology * Benchmark (surveying), a point of known elevatio ...

worldwide are considered to be light. The most prominent in North America is

West Texas Intermediate West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a grade or mix of crude oil; the term is also used to refer to the spot price, the futures price, or assessed price for that oil. In colloquial usage, WTI usually refers to the WTI Crude Oil futures contract tr ...

which has an API gravity of 39.6° API (827 kg/m³). It is often referred to by publications when quoting oil prices. The most commonly referenced benchmark oil from Europe is

Brent Crude Brent Crude may refer to any or all of the components of the Brent Complex, a physically and financially traded oil market based around the North Sea of Northwest Europe; colloquially, Brent Crude usually refers to the price of the ICE (Intercon ...

, which is 38.06° API (835 kg/m³). The third most commonly quoted benchmark is

Dubai Crude Dubai Crude is a medium sour crude oil extracted from Dubai. Dubai Crude is used as a price benchmark or oil marker because it is one of only a few Persian Gulf crude oils available immediately. There are two other main oil markers: Brent Crude a ...

, which is 31° API (871 kg/m³). This is considered light by Arabian standards but would not be considered light if produced in the U.S. The largest oil field in the world, Saudi Arabia's

Ghawar Ghawar (Arabic: الغوار) is an oil field located in Al-Ahsa Governorate, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Measuring (some ), it is by far the largest conventional oil field in the world, and accounts for roughly a third of the cumulative ...

field, produces light crude oils ranging from 33° API (860 kg/m³) to 40° API (825 kg/m³)

U.S. price

In the United States, the price of the front month light sweet crude oil

futures contract In finance, a futures contract (sometimes called a futures) is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The asset ...

, traded on the NYMEX

commodity exchange The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is a commodity futures exchange owned and operated by CME Group of Chicago. NYMEX is located at One North End Avenue in Brookfield Place in the Battery Park City section of Manhattan, New York City. T ...

(symbol CL), is widely reported as a proxy for the cost of imported crude oil. These contracts have delivery dates in all 12 months of the year. From below $20 a barrel in early 2002, it rose to an intraday peak of $70.85 at the end of August 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. A new intraday record high of $78.40 was set on July 14, 2006, prompted by the firing of at least six missiles by

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

on July 4–5, 2006, and escalating

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

violence. Subsequently, the price declined until on October 11, 2006, the price closed at $66.04. But, by August 2007, the price had reached a record high of $78.71, amid production output concerns in the North Sea and Nigeria. On November 29, 2007, the price peaked at $98.70 intraday after closing at $98.03 the previous day. The price of light crude set a new intraday high on May 21, 2008, of $133.45 and closed at $133.17. A new high was reached on July 11, 2008, as prices temporarily reached $147.27 a barrel.

Trading

Light crude oil is traded on the CME Globex, CME ClearPort, ( CME Group) and Open Outcry (New York)

futures exchange A futures exchange or futures market is a central financial exchange where people can trade standardized futures contracts defined by the exchange. Futures contracts are derivatives contracts to buy or sell specific quantities of a commodity or ...

venues and is quoted in U.S. dollars and cents per barrel. Its product symbol is "CL" and its contract size is with a minimum fluctuation of $0.01 per barrel.

Notes

{{reflist Petroleum Oil and gas markets

Varying standards

Examples of light crude oils

U.S. price

Trading

See also

Notes